Detroit businesses that refuse to take cash payments may start facing fines. Detroit City Council passed a new rule today (TUES.)… requiring most brick-and-mortar stores and restaurants to take paper money. Violators could face misdemeanor charges… paying up to 500 dollars in penalties. City Councilmember Angela Whitfield-Calloway drafted the ordinance. She says the law will protect financially insecure Detroiters.
Calloway said, “Some don’t even want a bank account. Some can’t afford a bank account. Then you have the homeless population, the immigration population, you have the youth. And then you have senior citizens who don’t have bank accounts.”
According to a study published by the University of Michigan in 2020… one in four Detroiters do not use banks. The city’s ban on cashless businesses will take effect in mid-September.