Why are so many reluctant to switch to electronic payment systems?

2016-06-11 00:00:00:

Today there are more than a dozen ways to accumulate and store money. In addition to the usual cash, electronic currency is taking the lead. This is easy to explain. It is easy to use, confidential, and opens the door for profitable transactions over the Internet. But for some reason, the transition to electronic payment systems is not going as smoothly as we would like. People are afraid of problems with use, risks of fraud and a number of other problems. What are the difficulties of switching to electronic money? What else scares people away?

Features of payment systems

The number of electronic payment systems (EPS) is off the charts today. Here are just a few of them - Webmoney, Yandex.Money, Qiwi , OKPay , Payeer and others. Despite the common task, the principles of operation of payment systems differ. In particular, most of the owners are trying to introduce their own currency. Due to the illegality of such funds, new names have to be developed - credit obligations, checks, gift certificates, payment obligations, and so on. There may be dozens of names, but the essence remains unchanged.

The problem is that the main drawback is hidden under the beautiful names - the lack of security of electronic currency. All risks are borne by the owner of the virtual funds. Of course, there is also such a factor as the reputation of the payment system, but this is secondary.

As for the financial infrastructure of the EPS, it rarely differs:

The official site where new users register. The main transactions are also conducted here. Electronic wallets are special storages that contain information about the clients money. Money receiving gateways and terminals. Special equipment is combined into one common network. It is with its help that electronic currency is exchanged. A network of exchange offices, ATMs. Such systems are organized only by large payment systems.

Recently, EPS have been trying to conclude agreements with banking institutions, which simplifies the work of clients. It would seem that the fertile "soil" is ready and users can safely connect to the network. But that was not the case - the transition to electronic payment systems is slow. But there are a number of reasons for this, which will be discussed below.

The dangers of switching to electronic payment systems

No matter how advanced the EPS, it always has a number of disadvantages that scare away users. Among them it is worth highlighting:

The need to connect to the global network. The transition to electronic money is associated with transactions via the Internet. To access the funds, you cannot do without connecting to the global network. What if you experience connection failures? In such a situation, money becomes unavailable. Moving away from confidentiality of payments. Initially, payment systems were in demand due to confidentiality. With the emergence of new legal requirements, payment systems are gradually moving away from this principle and collecting personal data of customers. To gain access to the functionality, the user is required to present a full package of documents - passport, TIN and others. It turns out that all transactions in the network are recorded by the system, and not a single payment goes unnoticed. This state of affairs is not pleasant to people who do not plan to advertise their income. The complexity of the application. Undoubtedly, recently, many companies, online stores and other business entities are switching to electronic currency. But this process is progressing more slowly than one would like. Many services remain unavailable for customers of many stores (offline and online). And why do you need more money if you cant spend it? There are no guarantees. As mentioned, switching to virtual currency is always associated with a certain amount of risk. You can earn money and even save it on your wallet, but there are no guarantees of capital safety. If the payment system is hacked or suddenly closes, then there will be no one to compensate for the damage. The state does not give any guarantees. It is because of this that many people postpone the transition to electronic payment systems. Availability of limits. Each system has limits that limit the capabilities of users. This is not a whim of the EPS, but a legal requirement. As a consequence, a number of inconveniences arise.

Should we expect a complete transition to payment systems in a few years?

Looking at how sluggishly the governments of different countries (including Russia) are moving towards "rapprochement" with virtual currency, a full transition to electronic money will not happen soon. This may take anywhere from 5-10 years, and perhaps such changes will never happen. Thinking ahead in such a question is a thankless task.