isn’t it like a debit card with extra steps? at a store I mean

  • Kbin_space_program@kbin.social
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    10 months ago

    Checks predate debit cards and e-transfers by at least a millenia.

    Debit cards replaced cheques in the 1990s in advanced countries. Less advanced countries like the US had to wait until the 2010s.

    • Kit
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      10 months ago

      Checks were unpopular in the US well before the 2010s and everyone had debit cards well before that.

      • Kbin_space_program@kbin.social
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        10 months ago

        Cheques were unpopular and the US was overly reliant on credit cards.

        US debit card usage in 2010 was at least 15 years behind Canada. We had tap and chip cards before you guys even accepted debit cards. E.g. San Francisco’s and Seattle’s transit systems didn’t even accept them at all until 2017. Vancouver accepted them some 20 years earlier.

        • Kit
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          10 months ago

          Tap and chip didn’t catch on until the 2010s for sure, but debit cards in general were everywhere in the US. They just had a barcode you swiped.