Are you guys hunkering down money wise?

[mjarrels]

Just wrote a check for $52,000... mortage is paid 21 years early!

mark

 

[Egon]

That should make for nice warm feeling Mark. Congratulations.

 

[Double Orange]

Mark, Congrats. Thats Great!!

 

[tallyho8]

As I'd mentioned, I do the same thing. With my business I get enough points to cover much of my airline travel but lately I've just opted for the 'cash back' option. Here is a big warning though; one thing I found out from a friend and her attorney this year surprised me big time. I'm told that she did the same thing except her credit card purchases were actually on a debit card, which looks exactly the same except debits the amount directly from your checking account. Anyway, she bought a rather expensive item (several thousand dollars) and it wasn't as advertised. She tried working with the merchant, but got nowhere. She called her CC (debit card) company and disputed the charges and was immediately reimbursed. But, and this is a HUGE but, she was 're-charged' for the entire amount in about 45 days. It seems that in the fine print of credit cards and debit cards that if the merchant responds to the CC (or debit card) company and says that the charges are legitimate, the charges go back on your bill and stick!

This is when she contacted an attorney who verified this. The bottom line was that she was ripped off several thousand dollars and now has to take her fight through the court system. However, since this was done on a "debit" card, she is doing so without all that money! The huge difference between a debit card and credit card is, in this situation, you simply wouldn't pay the amount you were robbed out of if you used a credit card and you'd have the CC company working with you to solve the issue. With a debit card, the bank isn't out any money so they bluntly tell you that the dispute is between you and the merchant since they aren't out any money; you are!

I don't know if I am allowed to mention the name of the bank this happened with here or not. If I can, I gladly will. It is a huge bank and one of the largest credit card companies around. With there being more and more cyber-thieves out there and the economy being terrible, this sort of thing happens quite often now. I guess this is why banks really like you to have "debit" cards rather than "credit" cards. With a credit card you have the option of just not paying what was robbed from you whereas with a debit card your money is gone until you go through the court system and then hope the criminal merchant is still in business. Even then, after losing court cases, many bad merchants simply opt to not pay the court ordered amount. If they don't pay, you have to start all over with the court system and go after them; proving they have the means and ability to actually pay you. Needless to say, it's a HUGE mess! If I can tell what bank took her on her debit card, someone let me know. I'll be happy to post their name here so you can call them and ask what would happen to you if you were involved in the above mentioned scenario.

It doesn't matter what the name of the bank is because they all do this with debit cards. Debit cards are NOT credit cards and do not fall under the same rules and regulations that credit cards do. This is why I do not use debit cards. I can not even think of one good reason to use a debit card.

 

[tallyho8]

Let me be clear, Sandman, I am not criticizing you, but rather trying to share something folks may not know about.

How many folks understand that all these cash back and rebate credit cards take that money straight from the vendor, and most vendors have raised prices to compensate? It's a ponzi scheme. Some years back I noticed some of our charges were costing us more than the straight % we had been quoted, and learned that they were rebate, cash back, corporate, etc. cards. My margin is not enough to allow for an extra % or two, so I asked how I could identify those cards, and was told I couldn't. My reluctant response was a 2% increase in all parts & implement prices. And since I'm not allowed to add that only to CC purchases, everybody now pays it. Some cards cost me as much as 3% + a flat rate fee when they are processed, so I'm not really making more margin. The actual effect is that my non-CC customers, and those using "regular" cards, are footing the bill for the others.

This is a good reason for your non-CC customers , and those using "regular" cards to start using money-back credit cards too.

I know that some places raise their rates when their credit card companies charge them more but I still just go to the cheapest gas station and use my rebate card and get 20 cents off per gallon of gas and I'm coming out ahead. If the retailer makes less money this is not my worry. I am not going to spend more money on purpose just so the retailer can make more.

 

[riptides]

If the economy is so bad, and banks are hurting....

why do I get 10k-100k offers for pre-approved credit?

why does my SO who is ten years removed from the work force get 10's of thousands of pre-approved credit offers?

We are being taken for a ride, so I am playing along. When it comes time to hold out my hand, I'll take the bail out too. Or is it a rescue now? Well rescue me!

Rescue the average taxpayer, to heck with the banks and Wall Street.

I say give that 700+billion to the tax payers. That should work out to around 700k per person, We pay taxes on that, 200 billion goes back to the US Treasury. I'll spend my 300-400K and stimulate the economy... thank you very much.

 

[tallyho8]

If the banks don't have money to lend then why don't they pay better interest rates on your savings so that people will put more in the bank? I am tired of getting only 2 or 3% on my cds. A few years back I was getting 8% and then the banks had plenty of money to lend.

 

[jinjimbob]

How many folks understand that all these cash back and rebate credit cards take that money straight from the vendor, and most vendors have raised prices to compensate? It's a ponzi scheme. Some years back I noticed some of our charges were costing us more than the straight % we had been quoted, and learned that they were rebate, cash back, corporate, etc. cards. My margin is not enough to allow for an extra % or two, so I asked how I could identify those cards, and was told I couldn't. My reluctant response was a 2% increase in all parts & implement prices. And since I'm not allowed to add that only to CC purchases, everybody now pays it. Some cards cost me as much as 3% + a flat rate fee when they are processed, so I'm not really making more margin. The actual effect is that my non-CC customers, and those using "regular" cards, are footing the bill for the others.

I didn't know shops didn't know what % fees they were paying.

I now you can not advertise higher costs for credit cards, BUT you can give discounts for paying cash. You should advertise this too.

 

[300UGUY]

In Michigan, the the top 2 causes for bankruptcy are job loss and medical bills. Job losses because the manufacturing is being offshored rapidly and Michigan was very manufacturing intensive. Overall, in the whole country, medical bills cause about half of all bankruptcies. I am not real worried about a doomsday scenario, but I think the "recovery" will be very slow. Real estate was the only driver since the dot com bust. Maybe the O man's alternative energy programs can restart the manufacturing economy, but I don't know.

 

[Dargo]

It doesn't matter what the name of the bank is because they all do this with debit cards. Debit cards are NOT credit cards and do not fall under the same rules and regulations that credit cards do. This is why I do not use debit cards. I can not even think of one good reason to use a debit card.

I've never had a debit card so that was news to me when I heard about what they do. It just seems rather immoral and should be illegal when they all claim that there is no difference between their debit card and a credit card other than the money is just removed from your checking account. When her company asked her "what's in your wallet", they implied that they'd protect her just the same as if she used a 'credit' card when she used a 'debit' card. She thought she was being more financially reasonable by not ever buying anything she couldn't pay for. She didn't know that she'd given up a lot of protection. Obviously, I didn't know that either.