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Not paying with cash

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Re: Not paying with cash

#151

Post by limagnolia »

noduerme wrote: post #148

I'm very sympathetic to both the cash-as-privacy and cash-as-fair-access (for unbanked people, to goods and services) arguments, and I won't support any business that doesn't take cash. Credit cards are a snare for the chronically indebted, to shake pennies from their pockets to transfer to the wealthy. However, if you have no debt (which is enough to be considered "wealthy", IMO), you'd be a fool not to use a credit…

Most if not all of those rewards are paid for by the interchange that they charge merchants, not the interest they charge customers. Of course, interest and fees are also profitable, but banks are pretty happy if you use the card and pay it off every month.

Re: Not paying with cash

#152

Post by normie3000 »

al_borland wrote: post #109
dlcarrier wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never had physical cash get stolen, but multiple times I've had to get new credit card numbers, because mine was revealed in a data breach. Even if I had been robbed, the cash I have on hand is a fraction of a percent of either my credit limit or bank account balance. I'm only near a few dozen people per day at most, and the chances of one of them trying to rob me are near zero, and the most they could get is a…

Not only data breaches, but people skimming or copying the card. I went to a restaurant a while ago and some random employee decided to grab our bill to “help out”, not our waitress. I was splitting the bill with someone else and both our cards had fraudulent charges in the following days. I still find it crazy that we let waitstaff walk away with our cards in the US. One of my cards is very thick and metal. I found…

This is a wild amount of fraud. Is this US-specific? Are cards still using magstripes there?

Re: Not paying with cash

#153

Post by kevin_thibedeau »

lisbbb wrote: post #48

The main problem I have with cash is that we don't have denominations large enough to buy much these days thanks to inflation. The $100 is the new $20, but ATMs won't serve $100s. I buy gas for my car, it's at least $35 right there. Groceries run $80-$120 every trip now. I don't know if revaluation is possible, but we need it. I'm not worried about dirty cash as compared to every purchase being tracked and all the fe…

The problem is you get treated like a criminal when trying to spend $50 and $100 bills despite their significant devaluation in recent decades.

Re: Not paying with cash

#154

Post by noduerme »

limagnolia wrote: post #151
noduerme wrote: post #148

I'm very sympathetic to both the cash-as-privacy and cash-as-fair-access (for unbanked people, to goods and services) arguments, and I won't support any business that doesn't take cash. Credit cards are a snare for the chronically indebted, to shake pennies from their pockets to transfer to the wealthy. However, if you have no debt (which is enough to be considered "wealthy", IMO), you'd be a fool not to use a credit…

Most if not all of those rewards are paid for by the interchange that they charge merchants, not the interest they charge customers. Of course, interest and fees are also profitable, but banks are pretty happy if you use the card and pay it off every month.

Really? I guess I didn't realize that. I always felt a kind of "screw you" joy at paying it off completely every month, like I'm getting away with something lol.

Re: Not paying with cash

#155

Post by TheBicPen »

ProllyInfamous wrote: post #79
dlcarrier wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My banks ATM defaults to $100 bills, and it takes a bunch of taps to get only $20 bills.

My local credit union has switched entirely to machined staff, even inside locations (with attendant staff for transaction impossible via ATM). For some silly reason, the machine stocks only these bills: $5$ $20$ $100$ Why waste an entire cash dispenser on fives when it could instead be handing out fifties (or at least tens)... especially at an ATM!? I think it's time for a $1000 bill, again. Let's get rid of bills l…

The problem with leaving both dimes and quarters is that you'd need dimes for any price that's a multiple of 10c but not 50c. Getting rid of dimes would make it so that every price payable with cash is payable entirely in quarters.

Re: Not paying with cash

#156

Post by al_borland »

normie3000 wrote: post #152
al_borland wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not only data breaches, but people skimming or copying the card. I went to a restaurant a while ago and some random employee decided to grab our bill to “help out”, not our waitress. I was splitting the bill with someone else and both our cards had fraudulent charges in the following days. I still find it crazy that we let waitstaff walk away with our cards in the US. One of my cards is very thick and metal. I found…

This is a wild amount of fraud. Is this US-specific? Are cards still using magstripes there?

Cards still have magstripes, but we generally use chip + signature or tap-to-pay now. I haven’t actually swiped my card in a couple years.

Visiting Europe, I really like that the transaction is done right in front of you. The pain point is that my card is chip + signature, when everything there is chip + pin. When I last visited London I would stop into the store and went to the self-scan. I had to wait for the attendant to print out a physical receipt for me to sign, which always took a while. In the US we can sign on the electronic pad. It’s all a formality anyway, since no one checks and everyone just scribbles whatever.

Re: Not paying with cash

#157

Post by limagnolia »

trenchpilgrim wrote: post #57
cosmotic wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Meanwhile, there's no apparent way to pay for a train using an American android phone (or at least I couldn't figure it out last year). One of the two apps refused to install on non-japanese phones, the other installed but refused to run. Had to pay with cash and it was a huge pain. Half the time I inexplicably had to do a fare adjustment, a hugely embarrassing moment blocking the turnstile, especially considering th…

The trick is to get a Suica card, which as an foreigner you need to do at the airport train station before you leave to the rest of Japan. https://www.jreast.co.jp/en/multi/welcomesuica/purchase.html

A few years ago, while I was in Japan visiting, they ran out of SUICA cards and visitors arriving couldn't get them. Left a lot of folks in a real bind. Fortunately I had already had cards for my family- and when we left we returned them for the deposit so they could be re-used, but they had a shortage for a few years! They should have used standard NFC, but being an early adopter has its downsides I guess.

Re: Not paying with cash

#158

Post by ptero »

dlcarrier wrote: post #63
supportengineer wrote: post #40

If you like to travel, you can essentially travel "for free" by simply doing these two things: 1. Put all of your purchases on the travel rewards card 2. Pay it off in full every month, no exceptions

What do you mean by "for free"? Would you be paying for your travels in full, the next month?

He is saying that miles you get for cc purchases allow you to buy free airfare and hotels.

Although you can find cards that give you 1.5-2% back that you can use on travel or anything, as you please.

Re: Not paying with cash

#159

Post by al_borland »

JustExAWS wrote: post #135
al_borland wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Remember that the credit card companies wouldn’t offer points if they weren’t profitable. People tend to spend more on a credit card than they do with cash, and it’s not enough to make up with points. I’m generally a pretty responsible credit user. I pay the whole bill each month and never paid a dime in interest. But I’d be lying if I said I never justified a slightly larger purchase that I would have otherwise made…

> Let’s say I have points to get a free flight. Great, now I’m also spending money out of pocket on a hotel, meals, entertainment, etc. That “free” $600 plane ticket actually costs $5k in other expenses, but it’s ok, because we’re earning $100 more in points for spending that $5k. I just flew to London for free and our hotel was free (the Westminster) on points. Earlier in the year we stayed in a $900 a night hotel f…

If you have a business and a lot of travel for that, the equation can change. I was speaking more about the average consumer.

As far as sign up bonuses go, I have very little interest in credit cards into a hobby.

Re: Not paying with cash

#160

Post by jaza »

mercutio2 wrote: post #97
jaza wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Various studies have shown that, for the investment needed to "maximise your rewards" (ie time needed to research the different cards on the market / read the fine print of your chosen product / put through payments on a high rewards card; money on signup fees, recurring fees, transaction fees, etc), you'll achieve a much better ROI just investing the equivalent time and money into an index fund.

Can you point to these studies? Anyone who gives a 3% discount for cash will get cash from me, but I already have all my money in index funds. The effort to maximize points is “use this credit card, get the cash back”. It’s really not that much effort, for rich people with excellent credit. It is of course a hugely regressive system, but that wasn’t the argument you made.

Alright alright, maybe not "various studies", but I read this article a few months ago: https://www.aureusfinancial.com.au/blog/title-are-credit-car...
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