You might like to think electronic forms of payment are taking over, but that's not necessarily the case.
For about 30 years, we've been told cash will become obsolete and everything will be done electronically. Texas Bankers Association's John Heasley said not just yet.
“Also, you have to factor in there’s a seven to 10% of the population that is unbanked. So, they’re going to be using either prepaid or more than likely cash for their payments. So the likelihood of us doing without cash for the next several decades is highly unlikely,” said Heasley.
He said a healthy skepticism of financial institutions and government still has some of us keeping cash on hand.
“Checks have fallen in volume by half from $37 billion in 2003 to less than $17 billion now, but checks will still be used, debit cards will be used,” said Heasley.
He said the average consumer uses about five different forms of payment. Just be careful paying electronically. And, don't carry around large amounts of cash. Although in some rural parts, cash is still king.
Texas is unique because of our migrant population and proximity to Mexico, adding the Federal Reserve Bank branch in San Antonio has a significant amount of cash because of the amount of commerce between the two countries.