WTF?

are you a goldfish? when I walk out of a shop I have this thing called memory, helps me live my life without relying on text messages.

@WTF?

WTF are you a pauper? I have a jetpack so I don't walk out of shops. Helps me live my life without relying on pavement.

Seriously, STFU. Some of us make payments for £1, £2, £18, £21, £62 and £13.90 and do genuinely have a hard time remembering how much we've spent. Couple that with the fact that sometimes transactions don't appear immediately, sometimes the money doesn't get allocated/pre-authorised, and some of us rely on these pre-paid intelligent marvels.

If you don't like it, you know what you can do.

not really

I think mobiles are almost a requirement of life today. Expensive mobiles are a luxury, but you can get phones for under a fiver now.

No Mobe Required

No mobile required here. Its just a prepaid credit card, like you'll find at any Loan Shark, I err mean Payday Loan Service.

No!

Mobiles - a luxury? Of course not! Even in most third world countries, a lot of people have a mobile these days. Here in the UK there are far more mobile phones than people.

Smart phones though I would call a "luxury" (in big ass air quotes though seeing as some people claim they are essentials!)

You are right that is nowt wrong with cash of course - except you can't buy stuff on-line with it. This is where prepay cards come in. Most I've heard about though seem to charge a lot to use them - which is nice isn't it - charging poor people to spend their own money! I think banks should be forced to offer a debit card with all basic bank accounts as the current situation just seems to be adding fuel to the "digital divide" thingy now that so much commerce happens on-line.

Save money with on-line shopping - but not if you are poor!

Anyway, there's my answer, I'm not writing it on a postcard though!

letters and/or digits

"then what about cash?"

So how are you meant to pay over the phone or Internet. As the article says, our plastic orientated times.

And there are scumbags who insist on pre-paid cards or they charge you extra - Ryanscare and SleazyJet to name two.

Wrong solution

"Save money with on-line shopping - but not if you are poor!"

Retailers charging different prices in their bricks-and-mortar establishments and online is part of the digital divide. If they were not allowed to do this, the divide might actually be closed up a bit.

Requiring people to use proprietary technology is backdoor privatisation of the law.

Online payments

Ive got an O2 Moeny card and I use for all my online shopping, its pretty good because if there is any unauthorised use its on a capped amount, so my account doesn't get plundered and with the automatic notifications I will know if there are any purchases.

For all the retards that asume that prepaid cards are for poor people, having credit cards doesnt mean your rich, it just means your willing to pay 19.9% interest on your own money.

Having pots of money and a phone with no charge. Priceless!

"Having pots of money and a phone with no charge. Priceless!"

And for everything else, there's Mastercard! But not if you are a poor and have bad credit!

What's this got to do with a phone?

It's a prepaid credit card. Did you not RTFA?