this post was submitted on 27 Jan 2026
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EU: “You cannot be charged a fee for paying by card, but you can be charged a fee for paying in cash.” No worries about marginlising Americans who face discrimination by banks. (www.fiserv.com)
submitted 1 day ago by activistPnk@slrpnk.net to c/Law@europe.pub
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cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/30909420

According to the linked leaflet, the EU’s payment services directive ensures that “You can no longer be charged extra costs by a merchant when you pay using a card issued in the EU.” But they neglect to extend reciprocity to cash payers.

Incidentally, this exacerbates adversely discriminatory treatment of Americans who face uniquely poor treatment by banks. Cash is the sole notable refuge from shitty banks.

Upcharging cash payers violates human rights. This is not only attributed to banks discriminating on the basis of nationality. We have a human right to:

  • self-determinism
  • autonomy
  • consumer protection
  • privacy

Penalising cash payers is an assault on any consumer who exercises their self-deterministic right to live autonomous and independent from banks.

No consumer protection is more important than the right to opt out of a transaction. It’s the only consumer protection that one can give themself without relying on others. Surcharging consumers who opt out of banking is an attack on that option. It puts a price on consumer protection.

Banking inherently entails abuse of privacy. The digital footprint is huge and undermins data minimisation rights.

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[–] Lemvi 1 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I have never encountered a fee for paying in cash in the EU.

[–] activistPnk@slrpnk.net 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Which country do you have experience with?

International rail and bus lines have this problem. They have price X for online tickets, and price X+Y (where Y>0 and often Y>X) for cash payers. Flixbus (Germany) and OUIGO (France) both do this.

Some countries force payments by bank transfer. The only way to make such a payment with cash is to hire the post office, who charges a fee. Indeed you cannot even pay your tax in cash in some countries without paying an extra fee.

The cheapest Internet subscription offer often mandates electronic payment -- even if the ISP has a physical presence. In that case you can only pay cash via the post office, which adds their fee.

[–] jeeva@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Maybe I'm reading too far into this, but I suspect the EU isn't particularly worried about marginalising cash payments from Americans?

[–] activistPnk@slrpnk.net 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Indeed the EU is not worried about marginalising Americans. That is the thesis of the thread. Whether they /should/ give a shit is a separate question. As it stands, there are multinational “accidental Americans” in the EU who have lived in Europe their whole life (with an EU-based nationality). They also get treated as Americans by EU banks despite their other nationality.