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Frank Abagnale: “Catch Me If You Can” – Talks at Google [video]

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Re: Frank Abagnale: “Catch Me If You Can” – Talks at Google [video]

#21

Post by ec109685 »

sharpercoder wrote: post #3

A great story. What I do not understand (I am a European) is that he uses a credit card, but not a credit card. I just did an AirBnB and I was prohibited by the system to use my debit card. I was outraged. I still am. I had to buy a separate debit-credit-card to be able to use AirBnB services. AirBnB supports iDeal (Dutch payment system), but only for bookings >6 days. From my point of view, using a debit card is far…

You can immediately pay off your credit card balance if you so desire and credit cards (at least American ones) don't charge interest initially. So if you automatically have your credit card debit from your checking account each month there is literally no cost to you to use a credit card and only upside.

The merchant is already pricing in credit card fees into their prices, so you should go with the payment instrument that provides you the best protection and other perks — otherwise you are leaving value on the table.

Re: Frank Abagnale: “Catch Me If You Can” – Talks at Google [video]

#22

Post by giosch »

lamp_book wrote: post #18
akhilcacharya wrote: post #2

I had never seen him give a talk before - is this one of his first that's publicly available? He's a phenomenal storyteller.

He spoke at my University and mentioned that he does talks regularly now - not sure if any other are recorded though.

Talks yes, telling his own story I don't think so. He specifically say that he rarely tells his story at the beginning of this.

Re: Frank Abagnale: “Catch Me If You Can” – Talks at Google [video]

#24

Post by Daviey »

giosch wrote: post #22
lamp_book wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He spoke at my University and mentioned that he does talks regularly now - not sure if any other are recorded though.

Talks yes, telling his own story I don't think so. He specifically say that he rarely tells his story at the beginning of this.

See the link in my top level comment, he has had this recorded before.

Re: Frank Abagnale: “Catch Me If You Can” – Talks at Google [video]

#25

Post by B0btheBuilder »

skrebbel wrote: post #20
abritinthebay wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From a general point of view: using a credit card responsibly will improve your credit rating. A debit card won’t. I had to explain this to a school friend recently as he has never owned a credit card and avoids loans - preferring to save first, then spend. When it came time to get a mortgage he couldn’t get good rates - or a large enough loan - as his credit history was so lacking. He was infuriated but I pointed ou…

In other words, American banks extort their customers to go into debt with them early and often.

To be fair, you can pay off the full amount of your credit card every month and never have to pay interest. A common misconception is the idea that you have to pay interest to build credit.

Re: Frank Abagnale: “Catch Me If You Can” – Talks at Google [video]

#26

Post by crististm »

sharpercoder wrote: post #3

A great story. What I do not understand (I am a European) is that he uses a credit card, but not a credit card. I just did an AirBnB and I was prohibited by the system to use my debit card. I was outraged. I still am. I had to buy a separate debit-credit-card to be able to use AirBnB services. AirBnB supports iDeal (Dutch payment system), but only for bookings >6 days. From my point of view, using a debit card is far…

Apparently, this is the system favoured in US: make people depend on credit and add protections to offset the negatives that you mentioned.

End result: http://www.usdebtclock.org/

Re: Frank Abagnale: “Catch Me If You Can” – Talks at Google [video]

#27

Post by barrkel »

skrebbel wrote: post #20
abritinthebay wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From a general point of view: using a credit card responsibly will improve your credit rating. A debit card won’t. I had to explain this to a school friend recently as he has never owned a credit card and avoids loans - preferring to save first, then spend. When it came time to get a mortgage he couldn’t get good rates - or a large enough loan - as his credit history was so lacking. He was infuriated but I pointed ou…

In other words, American banks extort their customers to go into debt with them early and often.

Credit cards are more like a delayed bill than debt, if you pay off the amount in full every month (and I don't know why you wouldn't, credit cards are a poor way to borrow money).

Re: Frank Abagnale: “Catch Me If You Can” – Talks at Google [video]

#28

Post by letsgetphysITal »

sharpercoder wrote: post #3

A great story. What I do not understand (I am a European) is that he uses a credit card, but not a credit card. I just did an AirBnB and I was prohibited by the system to use my debit card. I was outraged. I still am. I had to buy a separate debit-credit-card to be able to use AirBnB services. AirBnB supports iDeal (Dutch payment system), but only for bookings >6 days. From my point of view, using a debit card is far…

I use a Revolut card for this purpose. Pre-pay the card, pay the amount required. Also benefit from interbank rates for foreign transactions. Also means that if the card details are stolen from the merchant or processor, or are stolen in transit, all they have is a prepay account number with a $0 balance 99.999% of the time. If they get my checking account debit card number, they could easily take dozens of dollars on any given day. Dozens!

Re: Frank Abagnale: “Catch Me If You Can” – Talks at Google [video]

#29

Post by dragonwriter »

barrkel wrote: post #27
skrebbel wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In other words, American banks extort their customers to go into debt with them early and often.

Credit cards are more like a delayed bill than debt, if you pay off the amount in full every month (and I don't know why you wouldn't, credit cards are a poor way to borrow money).

A delayed bill is a debt, so it's impossible for something to be more like a delayed bill than debt.

They are also often the best method consumers have to borrow money for many purposes.

Re: Frank Abagnale: “Catch Me If You Can” – Talks at Google [video]

#30

Post by barrkel »

sharpercoder wrote: post #3

A great story. What I do not understand (I am a European) is that he uses a credit card, but not a credit card. I just did an AirBnB and I was prohibited by the system to use my debit card. I was outraged. I still am. I had to buy a separate debit-credit-card to be able to use AirBnB services. AirBnB supports iDeal (Dutch payment system), but only for bookings >6 days. From my point of view, using a debit card is far…

Because the risk of being out of pocket for a period of time is higher with debit cards than credit cards.

If you just think of your credit card as a delayed bill, where you can quibble over charges trivially, they're not like debt at all. Always pay off in full every month, automatically.

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