How do you pay for your fuel?

[clemsonfor]

OP here, credit cards number thefts are so commonplace my way of thinking is, the fewer times I use my card to buy gas, groceries, materials, etc. the fewer chances somebody has of swiping my number somehow. No card use, no way somebody can get your number or PIN.

Simple, huh? 95% of the credit card use I do is online via Paypal, and if somebody is smart enough to swipe my info there they probably deserve what little money I have.

I buy all gas on a credit card unless they jack the price .10/gal then i use debit if it takes that to reduce to the lower price. I no longer use my debit card as its been taken several times in the past, now its only CC to buy everything like most here and i get the 1% rebates back at the end of the year as free money. This year i think i got close to $350, just for buying stuff that i already would buy. I need to look into some of these 2-5% back cards!!

As for your worry of getting scamed, there is a chance, but like others have said restaurants can take it more likely but anyone near you in walmart or the gas station store can scan your card if you have one on you anywhere. If you dont carry one you said your wife does, and then it really dont matter who actually had it as they now have the #!! I get my CC# stolen about once a year it seems. You just watch your statments for $.01 or $1 or some other random $ amt to some strange company and you can spot fraud. They usually will run a couple of these small charges days to weeks to months before they actually purchase something big with it to see if you notice. If you or your CC provider dont catch it (the last few times they called and asked if i made X charges or not) then the scammers just max out your card till its cancelled. How i know, because it happens all the time to me!! I buy lots if not most stuff for gifts or parts for tractors and trucks, boats, 4 wheelers etc over the net. Its way cheaper and many of the things i want i cant get local anyway. Part of living in a rural area i guess. And with the price of fuel these days i cant really justify making the 35mile round trip to town just to look around, or to go somewhere. I try and plan out my needs and buy online ahead of time. I even buy parts from Advance auto online to take advantage of online coupons which genearlly translate to 30% savings on each order. These online purchases are im sure where my CC gets taken weather a hacker with key stroke loggers on a site or the site hacked or whatever i think thats where it happens. Its just the cost of doing online business and the world we live in now.

 

[patrick_g]

There are wallets made of "cloth" made of stainless steel. These basically are a Faraday cage around the contents. Flexible and comfortable to carry. Non corroding. Your cards will not be scanned when in one of these.

PIN??? I have a handful of credit cards (never had a debit card and don't even know how they work) but only use two of them, ranch business and personal. None of my cards require a PIN when swiped at store or scanned in reader at gas station.

I still feel funny talking about "swiping" a credit card as I was brought up to think of swiping to be synonymous with stealing.

Let me see now... Folks think the bad guys can read the mag strip on back of card remotely from a distance? Put me down as a doubter. Mag strip is not an RFID which can be read remotely at a fair distance. Some cards do have RFID technology. These don't have to be swiped as they can be read at a distance by legit or ilegit folks so beware. I don't have, don't want, and would never carry anything so stupid. It is like wearing a BIG sign with your CC number on it where anyone can see it.

http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/19/rfid-credit-cards-easily-hacked-with-8-reader/

Patrick

 

[MF 1532]

I have always used a regular credit card and I pay the full balance off every month. My credit card has no fees or expenses so I get to use the bank's money for that month interest free.

MoKelly

I do the same MoKelly , only I use a GM Business card which usuallly gets me several $ off on new GM vehicles . The card statement is convenient for business book keeping .

 

[rsewill]

About a year ago I had some unauthorized charges on my Citi card. I called them and they told me they had given a scammer my info so the scammer could access my account online. Crazy. Citi told me the scammer provided them with no identifying info, Citi just up and gave the scammer what they wanted. Crazier still is that Citi admitted it.

 

[ddigger]

I have several commercial fuel accounts, which I pay monthly when the bills come in. Everything I own exept my lawn mower and boats are diesel. This makes record keeping for tax time pretty simple. At the hieght of my season fuel is around six grand a month.

 

[crazyal]

The only credit cards that can be scanned from a distance are the ones that use RFID technology. Even then the distance is limited. The good old magnetic strips need to be swiped through a scanner as they don't have the ability to send anything and the data needs to be read in order. They are just like a cassette tape, if you don't read the data off in the correct then you'll just get random information.

RFID can be read from a few feet away but you need to be standing close to someone to get the information and you would also need to get their PIN number, otherwise it's still a credit card with credit card protections.

 

[powerpace]

Shell gas card. I always keep receipts for offroad diesel, propane and gas with no ethinol.

 

[rgs03833]

We use a credit card that is sponsored by AAA. We get a 3% rebate each month on gas purchases. When gas is $3.33 a gallon that's like 10 cents off per!

Look like you spend your money wisely :thumbsup: