In these days the discussion on the 60 euro threshold for payments with the Pos is on. The focus is also on the costs of electronic payments for merchants. Related to this issue is the problem of poor accessibility to cash withdrawal services: 4 million Italians today have difficulty withdrawing cash, living in areas where there are no bank offices and ATMs. This was denounced by Codacons, which reports that the increase of the threshold to 60 euros for payments with Pos will create enormous inconvenience for a slice of the population and will lead to an increase in expenditure to the detriment of users.
“Today 3,062 municipalities do not have a bank or ATM available in their area – explains Codacons -. This means that 7% of the Italian population cannot withdraw cash and must move to another municipality to look for an ATM. The situation is more serious in the southern regions, where the percentage of citizens who do not have an ATM in their area of residence rises to 10.7%”.
“The introduction of the 60 euro threshold for payments with Pos, therefore, in addition to damaging the entire community, will especially affect those citizens who reside in areas where there is a shortage of ATMs, creating enormous inconvenience on the payments front – denounces Codacons – . Added to this is the economic damage suffered by users, considering that for withdrawals from ATMs of banks other than the institution that issued the card, commissions can even reach 2 euros per operation. For the consumers’ association, the Government cannot fail to take into account the sharp reduction in bank offices and ATMs recorded in Italy in recent years, and on the limits to the POS it must change course by eliminating any limit on electronic payments.