Re: Credit Cards (was :Re: HUGE plot hole in Harry Potter: DH (Spoilers))


"David DeLaney" <dbd@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:slrnfbhjp8.h8r.dbd@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
pullo <pullo004@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
"Charlton Wilbur" <cwilbur@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
The vast majority of things I buy with plastic are on my debit card,
which looks to you just like my credit card. But I'm buying it with
money that's in my bank account already. In the US, some debit cards
are indistinguishable from the point of view of the merchant from
credit cards: the procedures are the same. Swipe card, get
authorization from computer, sign slip.

Not in my experience.

Debit Card Payment => Enter PIN. No signature
Credit Card Payment => Sign my name. No PIN.

Usually here also ... though an increasing number of fast-food places, now
that they -have- credit-card access at all, are doing away with the 'sign'
part of it, and just hand you the printed-out copy of your charge slip.
(They
also print one for themselves, which they keep, usually in the cash drawer
under the drawer that holds the coins'n'bills.)

Haven't been into a FF place in ages. But the grocery store, big box, small
box, mall outlets, non-FF restaurants, it's all CC. Funny thing; one place I
happened to lunch at regularly gave me a free lunch coupon since I was a
regular. When I used it it wasn't the usual waitress and she informed me
that she still had to charge me the tax. Having only a CC on me I ended up
with charge of less than $2.00.

That will be a killer for some. I prefer CC's over DC's just to give
myself
the extra degree of separation between my money and theft. I'd much rather
wrangle with the CC company about what might be charged of _their_ money
on
my stolen CC than argue with the bank [same institution as the CC, t'is
true] about trying to recover money taken out of my account.

And I have credit cards, but Do Not Want one anywhere connected with my
checking account; I _don't_ want a card out there that anyone who lifts
my wallet can get my actual cash with without knowing the code.
(Fortunately
the banks understand this once it's explained to them; the trouble seems
to
be that every so often a vice-president thinks "Hey, you know what? Let's
give
all our customers _VISA-ENABLED_ ATM cards, no extra charge, they'll all
love
it!" and I have to go round with the bank a couple times that no, I do not
WANT the card they have sent me in the mail while informing me that my
previous
card will stop working on $DATE, I want one that only acts as a debit
card,
no VISA allowed.)

Well my CC account is accessible on my ATM card along with my other
accounts. But I almost never use my ATM card anything other than Branch ATM
transaction and then only very rarely. I specify branch because I figure
they are the safest from False Front ATM's that skim card data. And even if
the bank's ATM is scammed it will be easier for them to investigate than if
you are alleging it was some 3rd party white brand ATM. I usually take out
$100 or so very couple months to take care of my petty cash needs.

Normally I don't _carry_ the ATM card. It sits at home unless I have a
specific need - like the petty cash . I carry the CC as a default - which is
just a CC with no other account access and use that for easily 98% of my
purchases.

It's also much less harrowing to get a credit card than to get a
one-off loan. If I should want to buy a new laptop, for instance, I
can go to the bank, explain what I want the loan for, put up
collateral, explain why I need the computer, have a loan officer look
at my credit report and tell me that they think $3000 for a Powerbook
is ridiculous, but they'll approve me for $1000 for a Dell. Instead,
I apply for a credit card, and I get approved for a certain credit
limit, and I don't have to worry about a loan officer deciding to give
me a loan or not depending on what I want to buy with it.

You could get a Line of Credit. Usually the interest rate is lower but no
grace period. I have an unsecured LoC at prime plus 1%.

And you interact with this Line of Credit how, when purchasing items?
...Through a small plastic card with a number embossed on it, perhaps?

Mmmm no. I have never used it to make a direct purchase. What I do is I
purchase on the CC and if I need to take more than the grace period to pay
the balance I pay off the CC with the LoC.

Lower interest rate.

Even that is rare. I haven't actually used the LoC in quite a while... a
vacation in 2005 that I was paying for more than a month after.

In general I check my accounts online daily so I will see a phantom
purchase/withdrawal very quickly. As I am paid every 2 weeks, instead of
waiting for the entire grace period I pay whatever the accumulated charges
are as soon as my paycheck clears my account.

Speaking of my $ paranoia: I'm not real thrilled at direct deposit. Not
that I don't trust my employer. But they do DD of payroll and bill customers
in the same manner. I don't care who it is. I just don't like giving anyone
that sort of access to my account.I even interrogated my bank about the
details of DD and got them to admit it would be possible for a DD'er to
reverse a transaction as in an error.

So to that end I set up a very basic no-fee/no-interest [well a fifth of a
percent or some such] savings account to use for direct deposit. The day it
is deposited I transfer it to my real 'working' account. It allows 2 free
transactions per month plus one for every payroll deposit which is plenty
for its purpose. It functions as sort of a firewall.

(Meaning
the salesperson won't know it from a credit card, unless it turns out to
use
a service to communicate with the bank and the actual LoC that their
machine
does not subscribe to...

As I said it is one of the accounts accessible by the ATM card. I confess
I'm unsure if it or the CC are selectable at a retail PoS debit machine as a
debit purchase. It's been even longer since I made a DC transaction. I know
from some [distant] past uses generic or other bank ATM's don't always offer
the same access to account as going to my banks' ATMs does.


.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: They wiped us out
    ... The bank stopped action on our account, ... but Amazon.com uses my card number. ... I guess just a cautionary tale to check your bank account online every ... If you dispute a credit card charge, you do not have to pay the charge, and ...
    (rec.crafts.textiles.quilting)
  • Re: Bad experience alert for Warmoth
    ... Interesting that I've noticed that most companies will not send the charge until an item is shipped. ... Paypal does something similar in that when you transfer money from your bank account it is taken out of the account one day but Paypal won't show it until a day or 2 later. ... The following Monday I cancelled because they still hadn't filled the order and asked them recredit my card. ...
    (alt.guitar)
  • Re: Going to the Dogs (Part 47)
    ... at one point I was even told (by the bank) that this was as an ... A couple of years ago I lost the use of my ATM bank card for some time ... be sent out and didn't say I would no longer be able to access my account ... the fact that customer service costs money, ...
    (uk.media.radio.archers)
  • OT - Beware of these scams, frauds, dangers
    ... If your account is ... On a credit card, if someone makes fraudulent ... Most often these sites will give you a free report and then they ...
    (misc.transport.trucking)
  • Banks getting more than a little corrupt imo
    ... process checks and charges to ones account. ... I instructed the bank to never approve an over draft, ... However they have a practice of letting you use the card for small ...
    (sci.research.careers)