Plastic fantastic–Is the UAE becoming a paperless society?

Plastic fantastic–Is the UAE becoming a paperless society?

After years of convincing UAE residents cards are the future, looks like people are finally coming around.

August 21, 2011 3:41 by Precious de Leon

So apparently, more shoppers in the UAE are using credit and debit cards to pay for goods purchased.

Finally after years of convincing people that a paperless society that uses electronic cash is the wave of the future, things are finally moving.

According to this article in The National, retailers are noticing that shoppers in the UAE “are increasingly using credit and debit cards to pay for their goods.”

Of course tourists have some part in influencing this, feeling safer with carrying cards rather than cold hard cash.

But mostly, it’s the work of banks incentivising the use of debit and credit cards. One scheme allows shoppers to pay for purchases in installments without interest. Retailers are pulling their weight by teaming up with banks to offer financing options as well.

All’s well then, right? The hope here is that people are aware about the responsibility of paying back their credit and the dangers of incurring huge amounts of interest.

There is also the hope that with the indication that UAE residents are less inclined to bring cash with them that the public transportation and other public services soon offer become cashless transactions as well.

Kipp can vividly imagine one day when we don’t have to have a ‘healthy debate’ with the taxi driver because he doesn’t have enough change.