You Know You Are Old When

[BravoXray]

If you believe the articles on how to trim the fat out of your budget, quite a few. As you said, you'd think they'd actually look at the charges on their CC bill each month, but apparently many don't.

I reconcile my CC statements with what I have in Quickbooks every month. I try to get a receipt for every CC charge so I can enter it in QB, except for a couple of auto pay items, like cell phone bill. If I don't get a receipt, I make a note so I can enter it later, and I print out any Amazon invoices so they can be entered and charged to the proper expense account.

 

[Jstpssng]

My solution is CASH.
I always pay cash except for the largest of purchases.
Then it is usually at a large retailer/supplier that is least likely to be pulling a scam.
It always boggles my mind that people can't carry a few bucks to cover a coffee or pack of gum.
Give big brother every op to track you and every small time business to pull a quick on on you.

I use the card to track my vehicle expenses.
Besides, I always fill my tank. Most places here require you to prepay. That means you have to go into the store, wait in line; trust the cashier with however much money you give them; go outside to pump your gas; then go back and stand in line again to get your change.
Or just swipe the card and start pumping.
Besides, it isn't the store doing the scamming. The place I mentioned above was Irving Oil... You may have heard of them.

I do agree about swiping for trivial things. I have seen a store owner give somebody a cup of coffee because he said it takes more to process than he makes. I always have enough money in my pocket to cover the transaction. Sometimes the system is down so they can't take plastic.

 

[dj1701]

Getting that fifth toe into your sock in the morning becomes an issue.

 

[WinterDeere]

I do agree about swiping for trivial things. I have seen a store owner give somebody a cup of coffee because he said it takes more to process than he makes. I always have enough money in my pocket to cover the transaction. Sometimes the system is down so they can't take plastic.

Credit cards are costing all of us, in that they charge around 3% per transaction to the seller. So, sellers with a high number of card transactions need to build that cost into their pricing, thus we all end up paying higher prices to cover this cost.

As to giving away coffee because it costs more to do a credit card transaction, there must be more to that story. Again, most cards are 3% of transaction, some are even 2%, but the cost of the cup + coffee is probably closer to 30%-50% of sales price. So, he's giving away 30%-50% to save 2%-3%? Doesn't make sense.

Maybe whatever service he uses has a minimum transaction fee, and that's what's getting him. But that's on the shop owner, for not choosing a better service for processing.

I accept payment by credit card, but since my invoices are usually above $10k, I just add 3% to all orders paid by card. This was illegal at one time, so everyone played the silly game of calling the +3% price "standard" and calling the cash price a "discount", but it was the same thing... you're paying more because credit card companies have to make their own profit.

 

[ultrarunner]

My solution is CASH.
I always pay cash except for the largest of purchases.
Then it is usually at a large retailer/supplier that is least likely to be pulling a scam.
It always boggles my mind that people can't carry a few bucks to cover a coffee or pack of gum.
Give big brother every op to track you and every small time business to pull a quick on on you.

More and more businesses here like gas stations and fast food are cashless... No Cash Accepted.

The change is to limit hold ups which can be rampant.

 

[Topzide]

The missing thing to the credit card story is that there is a swipe fee for each transaction. The fee could be as high as $0.50 per swipe! That's where giving away the cup of coffee may be cheaper the swiping. There can also be a higher fee for transactions under $10. A lot more to the equation than you think.

 

[WinterDeere]

More and more businesses here like gas stations and fast food are cashless... No Cash Accepted.

The change is to limit hold ups which can be rampant.

You're a saint for putting up with that. I'd have probably moved to some place better, long ago! There are hospitals and similar jobs in locations without such problems.

 

[WinterDeere]

The missing thing to the credit card story is that there is a swipe fee for each transaction. The fee could be as high as $0.50 per swipe! That's where giving away the cup of coffee may be cheaper the swiping. There can also be a higher fee for transactions under $10. A lot more to the equation than you think.

I run a business, we take credit card payments. The service I use has no per-transaction fees, or minimum charge fees, just 2.99% straight rate on every transaction.

Point is, vendors have more than one choice, when selecting their CC processing system. In this case, it would appear the vendor chose a poor option, for their type of business.

 

[John0829]

Our cards have been hacked 3 times, each time traced back to on-line purchases through big name companies but not the same one each time. Funny thing was it happened 3 years in a row in April every time. I managed to catch the first one with in 48 hours of it happening, that was just pure D luck and finally got the money back. But the way that bank handled it caused me to change banks right away. The following hacks I found with in 12 hours of them happening.

After the first time I started checking the accounts every morning and evening to reconcile them with spreadsheets I wrote where every expense is logged, even though only one account has card access. I also have our cards setup to send alerts anytime they are used and I can turn them on or off within moments. It takes time to monitor the accounts everyday but unfortunately this the world we live in now.

I enjoy the convenience of the card for most things but still carry and use cash for small transactions usually <$50. I cannot understand how some people can use their card/cards so much and hardly if ever look at what charges are being made. For example my sister and BIL who have been bitten a few times.

 

[WinterDeere]

Our cards have been hacked 3 times, each time traced back to on-line purchases through big name companies but not the same one each time. Funny thing was it happened 3 years in a row in April every time. I managed to catch the first one with in 48 hours of it happening, that was just pure D luck and finally got the money back. But the way that bank handled it caused me to change banks right away. The following hacks I found with in 12 hours of them happening.

Banks? You're not using a debit card for online purchases, are you?!? That would be very risky. I don't use a debit card for anything ever, I'm pretty sure the two in my wallet have never been used even once, they're only there in case I need ATM access in a pinch.

Your liability is limited with a credit card, usually fraudulent charges are just canceled with no impact. I think the fine print may make you liable for up to $50, but I've honestly never been charged, and the info for the card I share with my wife seems to get stolen almost yearly. They always catch it within 12 hours, we get notified by text, and then call the CC company to tell them which of the recent charges were ours versus fraud. Then they cancel the cards and mail us a new pair, never a hassle beyond waiting a few days for the new cards to arrive, and never any cost to us.

For things that require a bank account to avoid fees (Venmo, Paypal, etc.), I opened a separate savings account at my bank, which I only put $2k - $3k at a time into. I use that for paying thru Paypal, Venmo, etc. I did have my Paypal password cracked or stolen about 15 years ago, and this limited the damage. I would never link anything to my primary checking or other accounts, which can have much more money to lose.

I'm no expert on the stats surrounding this, but I'd expect exposure to loss probably goes up as a power function, according to the number of partners that can access your account. IOW, having a second account linked to your primary checking probably more than doubles your risk.