Pichardo's cashless DR

Feb 7, 2007
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Just a side note about Pichardo's posts about cashless DR.


Un Municipio Paisa es el primero en Colombia que ya no usa el dinero en efectivo.

These guys in Colombia supposedly stopped dealing in cash ... interesting ... I was there just yesterday and I saw cash everywhere and I paid everything with cash myself. So much for a cashless society. I guess it will be the same (story) in the DR. Just a news announcement for PR purposes and not really much more.
 

PICHARDO

One Dominican at a time, please!
May 15, 2003
13,280
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Santiago de Los 30 Caballeros
Just a side note about Pichardo's posts about cashless DR.


Un Municipio Paisa es el primero en Colombia que ya no usa el dinero en efectivo.

These guys in Colombia supposedly stopped dealing in cash ... interesting ... I was there just yesterday and I saw cash everywhere and I paid everything with cash myself. So much for a cashless society. I guess it will be the same (story) in the DR. Just a news announcement for PR purposes and not really much more.

You can't remove cash all the sudden. Cash will continue to flow for as long as anybody is willing to take it and be able to transfer it into an electronic account.

The DR is doing just that via all gov accounts, including welfare and social security benefits.

Before we can implement e-pesos, we need to have the basic infrastructure to support it nationwide. Today we are working with the small merchants, following that with micro biz as well.

It's not that the DR will simply remove the pesos from circulation, it's that once the majority of merchants, including gov, utilities, private biz and individuals, etc, stop accepting cash, people will see no use in keeping cash in their pockets.

If a person is the victim of money related crimes today, like forced to take money out from an ATM, in e-pesos this would be impossible.

No more robberies when the motive was to obtain cash, hence no more violent crimes of the genre.

The peso and coins won't be put to death, they will simply reside in a secured place (all of it) managed by the CB. Banking will carry on like always. Only this time the actual currency never transfers from hand to hand. It simply sits where it sits and the banks report the transfers to the CB on a routine basis.

In the event of a breach/attack on our monetary system from the outside/war/etc... The CB sends the actual currency to each bank and the banks therefore to their clients on a case by case basis.

Even kids will be able to use this, as their school ID is their SS# (Cedula #), a kid below certain school age will not be able to carry out financial trades until it's deemed fit for it.

As I said before, all transfers will be taxed. Those done on merchant to merchant accounts (including importers) will see their accounts added a VAT where appropriate.

Transfer by parents to their direct kids are exempt of taxes, unless a certain amount is surpassed or age restrictions apply.

A sibling to sibling cash transfer is to be deemed as a personal loan and therefore taxed, which will create an enforceable loan contract on transfer acceptance.

This will be a tax revenue windfall for the DR. Tax evasion will be impossible.

Tourists and other non-residents, will be provided a temp ID # (Cedula #) which expires on midnight of the last day on their legal stay term. This temp and discardable card will be only good for limited uses outside their AI and hotels. AI and hotels will continue to accept Card Payments from tourists to their own accounts, limited to in-house billing of services and goods.

Like I detailed in another thread, the DR is coming up with our own card. Just like Visa, MC and others.

The banks are working together to come up with a strong card system, which will also have checks and balances to halt abuses or over-spending by card holders.

Like I said before, this requires that some steps first are fully implemented. Some of them are being done as we debate here.
Like the Amnesty and legalisation phase under way now.
 

SKY

Gold
Apr 11, 2004
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Total nonsense. How many people in the Campo even have a Bank Account? I guess they just have to starve to death.
 

DR_Guy

Bronze
Feb 17, 2010
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How do you pay a hooker without leaving an e-trail for your wife to find?
 

AlterEgo

Administrator
Staff member
Jan 9, 2009
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South Coast
Total nonsense. How many people in the Campo even have a Bank Account? I guess they just have to starve to death.

Absolutely true. Where we live, there IS no bank. No ATM. No Casa de Cambio.

Closest bank to our house is a 20 minute ride away in our car in either direction.
 

DR_Guy

Bronze
Feb 17, 2010
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Which also means, then every transaction will get taxed with ITBIS.

NEVER GONNA PAY ITBIS ON A HOOKER!
 

charlise

Bronze
Nov 1, 2012
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And what about all those colmados ?? Who's gonna pay to have all those "machines" installed ? Because you will need machines to read those cards no ??
 

Mauricio

Gold
Nov 18, 2002
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I'm not so sure this will never happen. Just 5 years ago, most companies in the capital paid their employees in cash or checks. Now most pay by bank. That change didn't even take that long. How difficult is it for a bank to install ATM machines all over the country.

It's a fact that the government is swiftly bringing up to speed their capacity to collect the taxes due. Some of my customers told me that DGII changed strategy from investigating just companies to investigate natural persons as well. Company owners are being investigated on their personal spending, which helps the DGII to connect the dots and collect what is actually to be collected. I have heard more than one customer say that either they want to formalize their complete business (many companies have their part in the books and another part out of the books) and others saying they will participate in the amnesty campaigns the government has.

About 4 years ago the DGII had a big campaign to install fiscal printers in all restaurants and bars. Of course there will always be business escaping the dance but evading taxes will likely be the exception and not the rule.

Most dominicans in the past would laugh away the PICHARDO-style proposals by the government as many die hard expats still do as in : never gonna happen, but now I actually see many dominicans acting because they realize it seems to be serious this time. Because several have already seen consequences.

To say: what about the colmados is closing your eyes for the reality. Colmados are losing terrain against the supermarkets every day more. And what I see more and more in the capital are small, professional formalized supermarkets, taking the space of the informal colmados.

Obviously it won't be something of today or tomorrow, but things might look very different in 2020.
 

tmnyc

New member
Oct 19, 2006
334
10
0
Just a side note about Pichardo's posts about cashless DR.


Un Municipio Paisa es el primero en Colombia que ya no usa el dinero en efectivo.

These guys in Colombia supposedly stopped dealing in cash ... interesting ... I was there just yesterday and I saw cash everywhere and I paid everything with cash myself. So much for a cashless society. I guess it will be the same (story) in the DR. Just a news announcement for PR purposes and not really much more.

It wasn't the entire country just one municipality (Concepci?n La Concha)- a small one at that. The rest of Colombia is still a cash society.
 

SkyBlues

Member
Apr 8, 2011
114
17
18
And what about all those colmados ?? Who's gonna pay to have all those "machines" installed ? Because you will need machines to read those cards no ??

Don't forget the luz to read those card scanners. Unless everything goes on a tab and when you happen to be in the colmado with your card when the power is on, you can pay for your goods.
 

dv8

Gold
Sep 27, 2006
31,266
363
0
i think you guys need to stop with all the negativity and mocking of pichardo. for example: i'm in DR and i have no cash at the moment. see? cashless DR.
 

Aguaita29

Silver
Jul 27, 2011
2,618
271
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i think you guys need to stop with all the negativity and mocking of pichardo. for example: i'm in DR and i have no cash at the moment. see? cashless DR.

And if you have credit at the colmado, then you'll "virtually" have pesos, and we could say you have "virtual pesos".
 

Aguaita29

Silver
Jul 27, 2011
2,618
271
83
I'm not so sure this will never happen. Just 5 years ago, most companies in the capital paid their employees in cash or checks. Now most pay by bank. That change didn't even take that long. How difficult is it for a bank to install ATM machines all over the country..

True, but many people dread the 25th for the long and slow lines at banks. Usually, government jobs pay before the 25th, which is cool!
 

DRob

Gold
Aug 15, 2007
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Cashless (or at least "less cash") really isn't all that hard to attain. I do some banking with an online institution which until quite recently has had no physical locations, and seldom have more than $20 in my wallet. I've had no issues, wire money seamlessly, and use the account to handle most of my monthly bills.

Add to that the explosion of smart phones and banking/card apps, and the infrastructure is largely already in place. If you have an android or iphone, you can bank or purchase goods or services with near-laughable ease. I only have to go into a physical bank branch for perhaps one in twenty occasions.

In DR, the same thing applies to a marginally lesser extent. I rent cars and villas, and pay for food using a dedicated chip-equipped debit card from a provider that is more than willing to replace any funds lost thanks to identity theft (in a dozen years, it's never been a problem.) You can cut e-checks or make/receive payments quite simply. I very rarely have more than $100 US-equivalent in my pocket, generally much less.

My point being, in many towns, and at businesses not catering to clients who are living hand to mouth (buying a single egg at a colmado being the obvious example of subsistence commerce), it's entirely possible. As with the US and other places, however, there will always be more than a few exceptions to that rule.

Pitchy can be out there, but not really this time.
 

ramesses

Gold
Jun 17, 2005
6,672
809
113
Cashless (or at least "less cash") really isn't all that hard to attain. I do some banking with an online institution which until quite recently has had no physical locations, and seldom have more than $20 in my wallet. I've had no issues, wire money seamlessly, and use the account to handle most of my monthly bills.

Add to that the explosion of smart phones and banking/card apps, and the infrastructure is largely already in place. If you have an android or iphone, you can bank or purchase goods or services with near-laughable ease. I only have to go into a physical bank branch for perhaps one in twenty occasions.

In DR, the same thing applies to a marginally lesser extent. I rent cars and villas, and pay for food using a dedicated chip-equipped debit card from a provider that is more than willing to replace any funds lost thanks to identity theft (in a dozen years, it's never been a problem.) You can cut e-checks or make/receive payments quite simply. I very rarely have more than $100 US-equivalent in my pocket, generally much less.

My point being, in many towns, and at businesses not catering to clients who are living hand to mouth (buying a single egg at a colmado being the obvious example of subsistence commerce), it's entirely possible. As with the US and other places, however, there will always be more than a few exceptions to that rule.

Pitchy can be out there, but not really this time.

Not one of my girlfriends family (about 50 people) have ever had a bank account.