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TreeCard: The wooden debit card that plants trees

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Re: TreeCard: The wooden debit card that plants trees

#21

Post by chrisseaton »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #16
chrisseaton wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They don't have the same legal protections for their use. There's hardly ever any reason to use a debit card over a credit card.

Better secured and you're using the money you have vs. taking a loan? I ditched my CCs as soon as debit cards could be reliably used for on-line purchases. And AFAIK, the no.1 personal finance advice is "stop using CCs". I'm in Europe, though. That may be an European thing.

> you're using the money you have vs. taking a loan?

Why would you want to use the money you have when you can take a free loan until the end of the month? A free loan means you can keep your own money invested or otherwise working more efficiently for you somehow.

> the no.1 personal finance advice is "stop using CCs"

I've never seen this - I see 'use CC's more to build up your credit'. I use my cards religiously and have near perfect credit based on I think basically on this alone as it's the only credit I use beside my mortgage.

Re: TreeCard: The wooden debit card that plants trees

#22

Post by robjan »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #16
chrisseaton wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They don't have the same legal protections for their use. There's hardly ever any reason to use a debit card over a credit card.

Better secured and you're using the money you have vs. taking a loan? I ditched my CCs as soon as debit cards could be reliably used for on-line purchases. And AFAIK, the no.1 personal finance advice is "stop using CCs". I'm in Europe, though. That may be an European thing.

In the UK, at least, if a transaction paid with a credit card is between £100 - £30k and the merchant becomes unable / unwilling to render the goods / services, you get the full amount back under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act. This is to prevent people from being in debt for things they never receive. You don't get that protection with a debit card.

I'm sure other countries have similar protection.

Re: TreeCard: The wooden debit card that plants trees

#23

Post by chrisseaton »

capableweb wrote: post #18
chrisseaton wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They don't have the same legal protections for their use. There's hardly ever any reason to use a debit card over a credit card.

This is location dependent though. A easy way to see if someone is from the US, is if they advice you to prefer credit cards rather than debit cards. Meanwhile in Europe, there is no reason to have a credit card instead of debit. On the contrary, it's more risky to have a credit card rather than debit as on debit cards the limit for overdraft is usually way lower than how much someone could spend with your credit car…

> in Europe, there is no reason to have a credit card instead of debit

There concrete reasons to use one in Europe (at least where I live):

It's a month's free loan - why spend your own money when you can keep it invested or otherwise working for you for a month first for free?

Consumer credit law is still stronger for paying on credit than on debit.

I used to fly transatlantic first class once a year for free based on just my credit card rewards. I'm not some unusually high earner either. What possible reason is there to turn that down?

Re: TreeCard: The wooden debit card that plants trees

#24

Post by lol768 »

capableweb wrote: post #18
chrisseaton wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They don't have the same legal protections for their use. There's hardly ever any reason to use a debit card over a credit card.

This is location dependent though. A easy way to see if someone is from the US, is if they advice you to prefer credit cards rather than debit cards. Meanwhile in Europe, there is no reason to have a credit card instead of debit. On the contrary, it's more risky to have a credit card rather than debit as on debit cards the limit for overdraft is usually way lower than how much someone could spend with your credit car…

> This is location dependent though

Definitely true.

> Meanwhile in Europe, there is no reason to have a credit card instead of debit

Ehh, I'm not sure I'd agree 100% with this one. You can certainly get by with just a debit card (and enjoy the access to e.g. the chargeback scheme) but I find credit cards a useful tool to build credit (and my credit history built up by never missing a CC payment undoubtedly helped me out when I applied for a mortgage).

There's also the benefit of rewards which, although are smaller than in the states (because the interchange fees are better regulated), you may as well take advantage of.

I'd add a footnote to this to say: I use my CCs purely as charge cards and have a direct debit set up to this effect.

Re: TreeCard: The wooden debit card that plants trees

#25

Post by billfruit »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #16
chrisseaton wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They don't have the same legal protections for their use. There's hardly ever any reason to use a debit card over a credit card.

Better secured and you're using the money you have vs. taking a loan? I ditched my CCs as soon as debit cards could be reliably used for on-line purchases. And AFAIK, the no.1 personal finance advice is "stop using CCs". I'm in Europe, though. That may be an European thing.

The thing is CCs basically give a zero interest rate loan for upto 45 days. This means if you spent 1000£ through CC rather than a debit card, the 1000£ will sit in your bank account and earn interest, also 1000£ spent on the CC would have earned you reward points that could be redeemed as a statement credit. Thus in effect by using CC, one would have spend less for the same transaction.

Also taking credit and closing them in time with CC could boost one's credit score, which may be useful in the future ocassion when one requires a bank loan.

Is that not sane personal finance advice?

Re: TreeCard: The wooden debit card that plants trees

#26

Post by codingdave »

I like the concept, but so many questions -- Who is behind this? As in, what bank? If it is a debit card, I have an account somewhere holding my money. Is it insured? Is this just a branded card from an existing bank, or is this a new organization? Is this even real, or just another "build a landing page to see if there is interest"?

"How it works" needs to answer the financial side of this product, not just what percentage of profit goes to trees.

Re: TreeCard: The wooden debit card that plants trees

#27

Post by capableweb »

lol768 wrote: post #24
capableweb wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is location dependent though. A easy way to see if someone is from the US, is if they advice you to prefer credit cards rather than debit cards. Meanwhile in Europe, there is no reason to have a credit card instead of debit. On the contrary, it's more risky to have a credit card rather than debit as on debit cards the limit for overdraft is usually way lower than how much someone could spend with your credit car…

> This is location dependent though Definitely true. > Meanwhile in Europe, there is no reason to have a credit card instead of debit Ehh, I'm not sure I'd agree 100% with this one. You can certainly get by with just a debit card (and enjoy the access to e.g. the chargeback scheme) but I find credit cards a useful tool to build credit (and my credit history built up by never missing a CC payment undoubtedly helped me…

Yeah, credit history is something I never really cared about as I don't have any interest in getting a loan or touch anything else related to credit histories, so I'm probably a bit biased in that. I also guess the cost of living is so low where I live so I (together with many others) don't need to be able to take loans, not even to be able to afford a house.

Edit: not a complaint, just found it funny that someone thought of to downvote me a minute after I wrote my comment, because me and others around me don't need credit to afford a house? HN sometimes is funny.

Re: TreeCard: The wooden debit card that plants trees

#28

Post by xwdv »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #16
chrisseaton wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They don't have the same legal protections for their use. There's hardly ever any reason to use a debit card over a credit card.

Better secured and you're using the money you have vs. taking a loan? I ditched my CCs as soon as debit cards could be reliably used for on-line purchases. And AFAIK, the no.1 personal finance advice is "stop using CCs". I'm in Europe, though. That may be an European thing.

The no.1 personal finance advice is pay your credit card balance in full every month.

The exception is when you have a credit card offering a 0% interest promotional period. As long as your overall credit utilization is low, you can pay the minimum each month to maximize the amount of time your money sits collecting interest. I usually pick up a new 0% promo card every year to get cheap financing for large purchases while my money appreciates in the stock market.

Re: TreeCard: The wooden debit card that plants trees

#29

Post by capableweb »

chrisseaton wrote: post #23
capableweb wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is location dependent though. A easy way to see if someone is from the US, is if they advice you to prefer credit cards rather than debit cards. Meanwhile in Europe, there is no reason to have a credit card instead of debit. On the contrary, it's more risky to have a credit card rather than debit as on debit cards the limit for overdraft is usually way lower than how much someone could spend with your credit car…

> in Europe, there is no reason to have a credit card instead of debit There concrete reasons to use one in Europe (at least where I live): It's a month's free loan - why spend your own money when you can keep it invested or otherwise working for you for a month first for free? Consumer credit law is still stronger for paying on credit than on debit. I used to fly transatlantic first class once a year for free based…

Yeah, where I live you have exactly the same protections using credit card vs debit cards. Credit cards here don't usually have good rewards either. If you spend 10000 euros you might get 10 back in the end of the year, hardly something to hurrah for. Sometimes they give you a free TV if you open up a bank account with the bank and change to the bank to receive your monthly salary, but that's about it. So don't really have any reasons to use a credit card instead of a debit, as I only spend money I have anyways.

If I remember correctly, banks here also always give you a debit card when you sign up with them, while credit cards have to be applied for separately and also usually has a yearly fee, compared to debit cards that are free.

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