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Capital One to acquire Brex for $5.15B

reuters.com

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Re: Capital One to acquire Brex for $5.15B

#91

Post by weird-eye-issue »

Twisol wrote: post #67
weird-eye-issue wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who in the world uses debit cards

Setting your incredulity aside, I'm curious why you think using a debit card would be so shocking. I effectively don't use a credit card at all: I use a debit card (or an equivalent Apple Pay representation thereof) exclusively. From my perspective, if I want something and I have the money, I'll pay for it. If I want something and I don't have the money, I won't pay for it. I don't often want things outside my budget…

Because I get 2 to 3% back on every single purchase and I have my account set up to automatically get paid off every month so I've never paid a fee or interest for a credit card so I basically get free money, extra protection, and better credit just for using a credit card, that's why.

They make money off people who pay interest so I just take advantage of that.

Re: Capital One to acquire Brex for $5.15B

#93

Post by tempaccsoz5 »

steveBK123 wrote: post #82
Twisol wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Setting your incredulity aside, I'm curious why you think using a debit card would be so shocking. I effectively don't use a credit card at all: I use a debit card (or an equivalent Apple Pay representation thereof) exclusively. From my perspective, if I want something and I have the money, I'll pay for it. If I want something and I don't have the money, I won't pay for it. I don't often want things outside my budget…

You are young, you want to use a credit card to protect yourself and build credit history. Using a debit card, in the event of fraudulent charges, the money is already gone from your bank account and now you are negotiating with your bank to get it back. With a credit card, you file the claim and its generally resolved before your statement closes and anything is due. Your card will also be immediately cancelled, so…

This varies a lot between countries and cultures.

For example in New Zealand, EFTPOS cards are very popular (similar to debit cards, but issued directly by our banks so no user fees ever - the merchant pays for the machine and that's it). People usually have all 3 - an EFTPOS card for most in-person purchase (although online EFTPOS is gaining adoption), a debit card for online or paywave-only places, and a credit card for large purchases/ emergencies. Credit cards here are highly unpopular among the under-25 age bracket; most young people just have EFTPOS and debit.

I think this might be a result of our stricter banking regulations compared to economies like the U.S.; it's difficult for banks to offer tempting enough rewards schemes to entice people to credit cards. Additionally, there is much less of a borrowing culture - most people will only ever properly borrow money once - buying a house. Paying cash for cars is the norm, and purchasing anything else on finance is seen as stupid compared to just saving the money (and earning the interest yourself).

Re: Capital One to acquire Brex for $5.15B

#95

Post by xp84 »

Twisol wrote: post #86
steveBK123 wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are young, you want to use a credit card to protect yourself and build credit history. Using a debit card, in the event of fraudulent charges, the money is already gone from your bank account and now you are negotiating with your bank to get it back. With a credit card, you file the claim and its generally resolved before your statement closes and anything is due. Your card will also be immediately cancelled, so…

I am young, but not so young as that. I do have a credit card, I just don't use it for anything except the monthly cost of server hosting (to keep it in use). Despite its disuse, I have an "exceptional" credit rating, probably mostly due to the age of the account. So I appreciate the point about credit history, but my habit of preferentially using debit doesn't seem to have been to my detriment on that front. As to f…

The reason is just that it would be more risky, I think. Compare the scenarios:

1. Scammer clones your credit card with a skimmer and pays for $500 of clothes at the mall. You dispute the charges. The funds are actually not given to the store for a bit given that credit transactions take a while to settle. Upon the dispute, the store now needs to prove that you were there and bought those clothes to get their $500, or else the bank/Visa won't pay them.

2. Scammer clones your debit card with a skimmer and pays for $500 of clothes at the mall. You dispute the charges. The store already got paid though. The bank doesn't want to give you another $500 in case you are actually in on the scam, then they'll be out an additional $500. Eventually assuming they can't prove you actually bought the clothes, I think the store would have the $500 confiscated, but usually you're still liable for $50 if you reported it quickly enough, but could be more if you take too long to report the fraud.

Of course debit cards can easily be converted to even easier-to-launder money substitutes, too.

Re: Capital One to acquire Brex for $5.15B

#96

Post by xp84 »

ipsento606 wrote: post #78
Twisol wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Setting your incredulity aside, I'm curious why you think using a debit card would be so shocking. I effectively don't use a credit card at all: I use a debit card (or an equivalent Apple Pay representation thereof) exclusively. From my perspective, if I want something and I have the money, I'll pay for it. If I want something and I don't have the money, I won't pay for it. I don't often want things outside my budget…

Credit cards are many products rolled into one. Despite the name, many people use "credit cards" simply for rewards and enhanced purchase protections, with only incidental use of the credit facility. In the US market, it is surprising that someone would choose to use a debit card over a credit card (if they have the choice) because they are giving up the rewards and enhanced purchase protections, which are available…

Not to mention the grace period. Especially with high interest rates, it's another perk to have thousands of my dollars stay in the bank all month while my credit card bill piles up. This matters less when rates are super low.

Re: Capital One to acquire Brex for $5.15B

#97

Post by marssaxman »

Twisol wrote: post #67
weird-eye-issue wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who in the world uses debit cards

Setting your incredulity aside, I'm curious why you think using a debit card would be so shocking. I effectively don't use a credit card at all: I use a debit card (or an equivalent Apple Pay representation thereof) exclusively. From my perspective, if I want something and I have the money, I'll pay for it. If I want something and I don't have the money, I won't pay for it. I don't often want things outside my budget…

I do the same - I use my debit card for everything, all the time. If I don't have the money to buy something, I'd rather just wait until I do; credit cards make it too easy to spend money faster than I earn it.

People who like to tell other people they shouldn't use debit cards often cite fears of fraud, but that's really never been a problem for me.

Re: Capital One to acquire Brex for $5.15B

#98

Post by xp84 »

apparent wrote: post #65
weird-eye-issue wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who in the world uses debit cards

People who don't have credit? I used a debit card at one point, though I don't anymore. But also, they're looking at moving their credit cards to Discover as well, which would make huge waves (both in the credit card/banking world, and for their customers, who would probably find it very annoying).

I suspect the play they're making is that putting millions of new Discover cards out there will be a tipping point, pressuring the remaining merchants who don't take it, as a play to break the Visa/MC duopoly.

This could be not that hard to pull off. American Express historically was less accepted because of their high fees, but I don't think Discover has or had that problem.

Re: Capital One to acquire Brex for $5.15B

#99

Post by thegrim000 »

xp84 wrote: post #90
c2h5oh wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Majority of EU population. Even in US debit is more popular than credit in 18-25 age bracket.

(Frame of reference: US only) That's a shame, given 18-25 is just the age where a credit card skimmer or online card fraud causing a big fraudulent withdrawal from your checking account, and weeks of waiting to get it back, could be devastating. This has happened to people in my family (likely from gas stations) but we only use credit cards except to pull cash from ATMs, so we only suffer a temporary dip in our avail…

It's extremely common advice to not keep large sums of cash sitting in your checking account. With capital one (and others) you can just open a free savings account, keep the bulk in there (if you don't want to invest it instead), which earns an actual interest, and then there's never a "big" amount of vulnerable cash sitting in your checking account. There's free/instant transfers between savings and checking when you need to move more into your checking.
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