I Hate Using Credit Cards

[schindlerpiste]

Many merchants are now requiring a 3-5% Service charge to allow you to pay by credit card. This is especially true at universities and utilities. I like cash back, miles and points as much as the next guy, but I don’t like paying for them.

[Mustonen]

MasterCard ABU and VISA VAU should obviate most of the need to update card numbers with bill pay merchants if you’re on their networks. Debit card transactions run through those networks enjoy the same protections, though fair point that the mechanism of deposit account vs. line of credit has real implications if you’re relying on that day to day without a fallback.

[Mustonen]

Many merchants are now requiring a 3-5% Service charge to allow you to pay by credit card. This is especially true at universities and utilities. I like cash back, miles and points as much as the next guy, but I don’t like paying for them.

Blame Durbin. I see that fairly rarely, even though it’s allowed now.

[CarlMega]

The 'convenience fee' is rare - non-Profits and Gov't mostly. But your processor rates are usually factored into your retail price one way or another. Everyone who can has a hand in it and skims just a little bit.

[Grange]

I'm seeing the convenience fee more often recently. I will look for a different option when I know a place is going to charge me a convenience fee.

[Danno]

I didn't realize that the rules were changed WRT to a cc fee, I though it was just govts that could do that.

Still, most places have wised up and don't charge the fee, understanding that making payment easy and accurate and fast is worth eating 2-3%. Because otherwise you introduce human error in the cash transaction, extra work to put together deposits introducing more human error, chance of theft in there too.

[Mustonen]

Used to be a part of the merchant/network agreement that you can’t charge the fee, but that was set aside with the Durbin amendment in 2010. Most merchants wise up that they’ll lose sales and cash isn’t free either, and nobody who is crunching any of the numbers wants to encourage more check use.

[old_newguy]

I play the game, occasionally with sign up bonuses but always with the category stuff, like Discover has.

But as a simple "use this card for everything else", the Citi Double Cash card is good. 2% on every purchase adds up if you use your card for everything, like I do.

Yes. It’s dead simple and if you don’t fly very much like me it’s perfect.

[Ted Striker]

...cash isn’t free either

I've had to exchange a lot of various currencies over the years, and the cash rates are generally worse than electronic specifically because cash needs to be securely physically transported.

[skaredshtles]

Seriously, though - companies passing through that "convenience fee" are cutting off their nose to spite their face. They would rather receive a check in an envelope and deal with all the associated costs of all that?

Goddam morons.

[Jax]

My CU notified me of fraud last month, the fraudster did a 'test' run of $1, then tried to spend $200+ at one of those big box makeup stores, in Louisiana. Have no idea how my number got out like that, that card stays tucked away at home. In any case, the CU caught on right away, didn't let the charges go through, and I didn't have to dispute anything. They even allowed one of my automatic payments to go through after they closed the card so I wouldn't be inconvenienced. Still fighting with Transunion though, they marked the account as 'closed' on my credit report even though the credit union just sent me a new card, different number, but same account. Dropped my score by like 20 points. PITA indeed.

[altasnob]

The EU limits debit card fees at 0.2 percent of the transaction value and credit card fees at 0.3% of the transaction value. One reason Europe is more cash based than US. US doesn't put a limit on the fees. So all you saying you like credit cards because of the perks you get are actually paying for those perks that are built into the over inflated prices we have to pay for everything.

It is a brilliant business model. Charge 5% more for everything across the board. Stupid schmucks will pay in cash or debit card and lose out on the perks. Slightly less stupid schmucks will pay with credit card and be tickled pink that they get a 2% return with the perks while the credit card companies make billions for doing nothing.

[dunfree]

FIFY. For businesses, credit card swipe fees add up to a ton of lost revenue (like 2% or more), but I guess not as much as employee theft.

Once employee theft can become a problem the costs of cash become non-negligible, but cash flow might be an advantage.

[Ted Striker]

The EU limits debit card fees at 0.2 percent of the transaction value and credit card fees at 0.3% of the transaction value. One reason Europe is more cash based than US. US doesn't put a limit on the fees. So all you saying you like credit cards because of the perks you get are actually paying for those perks that are built into the over inflated prices we have to pay for everything.

It is a brilliant business model. Charge 5% more for everything across the board. Stupid schmucks will pay in cash or debit card and lose out on the perks. Slightly less stupid schmucks will pay with credit card and be tickled pink that they get a 2% return with the perks while the credit card companies make billions for doing nothing.

The general public had absolutely no control over any of that.

[altasnob]

Why not? I am in favor of capping credit card fees just like the EU has done. Why couldn't the US pass a similar law? Reason why it is hasn't happened is politicians are in bed with big business credit card companies. And in the end, we all suffer.

[Mustonen]

The EU limits debit card fees at 0.2 percent of the transaction value and credit card fees at 0.3% of the transaction value. One reason Europe is more cash based than US. US doesn't put a limit on the fees. So all you saying you like credit cards because of the perks you get are actually paying for those perks that are built into the over inflated prices we have to pay for everything.

It is a brilliant business model. Charge 5% more for everything across the board. Stupid schmucks will pay in cash or debit card and lose out on the perks. Slightly less stupid schmucks will pay with credit card and be tickled pink that they get a 2% return with the perks while the credit card companies make billions for doing nothing.

There is a limit on debit card interchange fees in the US, actually..... This is a fairly recent development (same Durbin amendment in 2010), and guess who didn’t lose? The banks. The bottom line is the bottom line, you’re paying for the services one way or the other.

“Doing nothing” isn’t strictly fair, not to be a “credit card company” apologist.

[Ted Striker]

@as, I would be in favor of it too, but you answered your own question.

[Soups]

anyone got a good points card recommendation??

i don't like playing "the game" (as in, "this month we need to shop at store X because they have 5x points), just something i can passively use to put all my purchases on

thinking amex blue, open to other ideas. chase freedom?

Chase Sapphire Reserve. Best card hands down.

3x points on travel, restaurants, grocery. Tons of bonuses/credits (free lyft pink, $60 on doordash per year, $300 travel credit every year, etc), big sign up bonus.

[altasnob]

Almost all of us suffer. This guy got rich exploiting credit card companies' points. It also talks about the real life “Pudding Guy,” immortalized by Adam Sandler in “Punch Drunk Love.”

The Man Who Turned Credit-Card Points Into an Empire: Brian Kelly, The Points Guy, has created an empire dedicated to maximizing credit-card rewards and airline miles. What are they worth in a global pandemic — and why are they worth anything at all?

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/05/m...l-rewards.html

[AdironRider]

Hey, the influencer for yuppies!

Guy gets paid to advertise credit cards to semi-wealthy people. The schtick isn't new, or original in the sense of just hawking stuff.

Ultimately no different than the people you don't understand kids believing on tiktok or even the slap chop guy from the infomercials, just packaged neater for the 35-55 year old professional.

[DJSapp]

It's amazing how few people ask for a cash discount. Buying a couple hundred bucks worth of stuff from a mom and pop shop? Ask for it. If they say no, plop down the cc. But if they say yes, I'd rather have 5% off today than a 3% check 10 months later.

[nickwm21]

Chase Sapphire Reserve. Best card hands down.

3x points on travel, restaurants, grocery. Tons of bonuses/credits (free lyft pink, $60 on doordash per year, $300 travel credit every year, etc), big sign up bonus.

+1

Fee is $400 a year but the credits Soups mentions get pulled automatically off your balance so you actually end up paying like $40 a year for the card.

Free access to some airport lounges too....


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[::: :::]

i just had my bank reject the online payment for a streaming service twice in as many months. When I called to get it fixed the second time, they said they were replacing the card. I asked if they had any other rejected charges. Nope. So, you're making me replace my card for something you guys are poorly managing internally? FFS
I mean, I guess I'm happy that I have an updated card cuz, hey, more secure if no one has it yet...but it seemed like they just needed to fix their software to allow the streaming service that I had been using for many months prior and had called to confirm twice.

[altasnob]

Here's another way credit card companies rip us off. For my Costco cashback visa, once a year I get a check that I can only redeem at Costco. They encourage you to use that check to pay for Costco purchases rather than get cashback. But if you use the voucher for Costco goods, you don't get the 1% cashback on that amount. It is smarter for the consumer to always pay using the credit card (so you get the 1%) and get the reward as cash. You have to go talk to customer service to get the amount in cash. 1% on a $300 voucher is pretty trivial, but it all adds up.

My REI VISA card does the same thing. They give you the voucher on month 1 that you can only use on REI purchases (but lose out on the 15% reward I get with the REI card). You have to wait a few months to covert the voucher to cash, and REI Visa knows most won't do this. My City double cash also plays this game. Rather than take cash they try to get me to use my reward on physical items (that I won't get the 2% reward if I go this route).

[XXX-er]

Yeah, the majority of places I go to use ipads as their pos machines, so everyone else's dirty fingers have been on the exact same 'buttons' and signature field. If that doesn't spread covid, then cash certainly won't.

Back in the day "someone" checked for germs in restaurants and the big one was the mint bowl on the maitre D's stand, apparently after their dinner people go in the washroom & take a piss, don't wash their hands & grab a hand ful of mints

i know someone who was washing/ bleaching her cash last year but i wouldn't say she was the sharpest knife in the drawer on a regular basis