How NOT To Bank.

[Bird]

part of my morning routine is to check my bank and credit card activity online; I知 the one affected by any mistakes/thefts, so it痴 my responsibility.......

takes all of five minutes at best

I check my bank every day and credit cards every few days.

My bank (actually a credit union) quit mailing statements, but I go on line the first of each month, print out the statement, and "reconcile" it (haven't found anything to actually reconciles in my memory).

 

[JethroB]

If you have a credit card, use it wisely, and pay the entire balance each month, what is the point of having a debit card? Easy cash at checkout?
.

 

[cdaigle430]

If you have a credit card, use it wisely, and pay the entire balance each month, what is the point of having a debit card? Easy cash at checkout?
.

My 2 cents...


There are several points to using a credit card vs debit. Debit is riskier especially if its the same account you have your paycheck or other funds deposited to on a monthly basis. You also make bill pays and pay bills through ACH transfers from the same account your debit card is using. Something goes wrong and its hacked you can lose you paychecks or in the least will have to update the account numbers on all ACH withdrawals. When traveling most debit card bank holders charge exorbitant ATM fees and foreign Transaction fees.

If you lose your debit card you have to wait until you get a new one.

A credit card with a good rate and no foreign transaction fees is even better. I charge to it and then once a month pay it off with a transfer from my savings or checking using ACH. If it gets hacked-most if not ll of them will reimburse you and issue you another card and if necessary still allow you to use it until the new one arrives.

Beware of the easy cash at checkout, alot of them charge a fee now for cash withdrawals at the checkout.

When I travel its all on my AMEX card, and once a month i pay it off and aviod interest payments from my checking. So easy and so much more financially and security sound....even if you dont travel alot. Even smarter is if you have an AMEX card that also provides rewards and air miles, you wrack them about for a free gift or round trip ticket. I have over 100,000 air miles on mine form purchases...no interest because I paid them off monthly. My AMEX card is widely accepted where as my debit card is not. Also-had one fraud experience where AMEX took care of the 1700 dollar fraud charge and one issue where we bought a gas kitchen stove for her mom in Brazil. She didn't need it, didn't take it out of the box and we returned it under AMEX policy and policy of the appliance store. They never came back to get the stove and AMEX reimbursed her the full amount. After 6 months of hassle they decided to keep the stove...free.

Another reason is for Lowes, Home Depot and other places like Best Buy. You buy something over 300 bucks and get 0% financing for 6-12 months and or 10-15% discounts. Sometimes in addition you get another 10-15% off for opening the card with them. No way cash is king there...no way. Debit card yeah right...

 

[Fuddy1952]

A credit card is cheaper than cash using a cash back card. I've never paid penalty or interest, pay balance in full each month. Lowes card on large purchases I'll use, get the discount, then write a check right there for balance.
If I need cash I just get it from the bank...no fees.

 

[Oaktree]

Another reason is for Lowes, Home Depot and other places like Best Buy. You buy something over 300 bucks and get 0% financing for 6-12 months and or 10-15% discounts. Sometimes in addition you get another 10-15% off for opening the card with them. No way cash is king there...no way. Debit card yeah right...

Any downsides to the store credit cards? I would imagine that any "points"/bonus would have to be spent in their store, or is that not the case?

 

[Diggin It]

Yeah, they're in-store only and I don't see where they earn points. The tractor place card has some loyalty rewards after X uses.

The only gotchas I've seen are that some discount/bonus offers can't be combined while others can, so you have to pay attention to the fine print.

.

 

[MoKelly]

Any downsides to the store credit cards? I would imagine that any "points"/bonus would have to be spent in their store, or is that not the case?

One possible downside is your credit rating. The more credit cards you have (even if you don’t use them much or at all) can impact your credit rating. So, be careful if just opening up credit cards to get discounts at checkout.

MoKelly

 

[ruffdog]

One possible downside is your credit rating. The more credit cards you have (even if you don’t use them much or at all) can impact your credit rating. So, be careful if just opening up credit cards to get discounts at checkout.

MoKelly

Hmmm.....here's $5, now give me all your personal information. No.:thumbdown:

 

[3Ts]

I like ruffdog's comment! It is quite accurate.

The credit card is used to track everything you buy at the store and use it to target advertising back at you. And, they're hoping you won't pay off the card every month so that they'll get the late fees and interest as well. I see credit cards as a convenience and necessary evil. I'm very careful how I use them and which ones I get.

 

[Jstpssng]

I was educated to the perversity of CCs a couple of years ago. All of a sudden I started getting emails from a corner store which I frequent. The only way that they could have gotten that address is from when I used a CC there at some point in time. I even tried to talk to the manager, but she just psshfted me away.