WASHINGTON—U.S. Sens. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and Kevin Cramer (R-ND) have reintroduced the Payment Choice Act.
The two senators introduced the legislation a year ago saying the objective it to give customers the freedom to choose how they pay for goods and services.
“With the increased use of electronic and contactless methods of payment and many businesses refusing cash, consumers without access to financial services face a disproportionate burden,” the senators stated in a joint release.
The bipartisan Payment Choice Act “would prohibit retail businesses from refusing to accept cash as a form of payment and charging a higher price for using cash than for other forms of payment,” Menendez and Cramer said in a statement.
“While electronic payments are a convenient method for customers to pay for goods or services, completely refusing cash as a form of payment denies people, frequently in underserved populations, from having equal access to participate in our economy,” said Menendez in the release. “Our bipartisan, commonsense legislation would guarantee everyone who carries legal tender printed and backed by the U.S. Treasury, and especially those who are unbanked or underbanked, can continue to fully participate in the economy.
In the statement, Cramer called the act of prohibiting cash payments “an act of discrimination against the millions of Americans who do not have bank accounts or prefer cash.”
‘Why Do We Print Money?’
“The Payment Choice Act protects people’s right to participate in the economy using their preferred form of payment,” Cramer said. “If businesses unilaterally stop accepting cash, why do we print money? Is it really legal tender for all debts as it says?”
In its analysis, Pmnts.com noted that about 5.4% of U.S. households are unbanked and 16% are underbanked, meaning the latter rely on money orders and other financial services to make transactions. Cash payments represent 19% of all payments in the U.S. economy, Pymnts.com noted.
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