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Ironically my credit card info literally got stolen at a restaurant last night and most of the purchases they tried to make were declined hahahahah Honestly, I

Ironically my credit card info literally got stolen at a restaurant last night and most of the purchases they tried to make were declined hahahahah Honestly, I really enjoy using my credit card. I can buy anything, anytime, online, the customer service department always resolves fraud quickly, and they even pay me to use the damn thing

merinowool 8y ago
That works fine until people sleepwalk into cashless society and then someone from the government will think you are undesirable and delete your assets.
- usrusr 8y ago
  I do all my day to day in-person payments in cash, yet all my assets would be just as vulnerable to that kind of attack as those of a completely cashless person.
- greenshackle2 8y ago
  Do you suggest we keep savings in cash and physical bonds, stock certificates and gold ingots under the mattress? I pay cash often but even so I very rarely have more than $1000 in cash at any given time.
  - crysin 8y ago
    Which is smart because at least in the US there's a large portion of the country where police can use civil forfeiture to take your money, even if you are not guilty of any crime.
  - merinowool 8y ago
    Not necessarily under the mattress but it is smart to diversify your liquid assets location
- anoncoward111 8y ago
  Look, I really despise the government too, but... ... FDR confiscated the gold lol. If they want something of yours, they will take it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Order_6102 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Order_6102
- closeparen 8y ago
  When cash was used for most retail transactions, you were still going to have a couple thousand on hand at most. That won’t last long. It’s the payroll side, not the POS side, where that matters.
davnicwil 8y ago
I know, it seems great. But who is paying for that fraud protection? Who is paying for that customer service team? Who is paying for the fact you get paid to use it? In the end.. It's you, through slightly higher prices on everything you buy every day because retailers have to price in the cost of credit card fees that pay for all that.
- jayd16 8y ago
  Most of the time there's no explicit CC charge so you'd still be paying for it whether you paid cash or not.
  - plantain 8y ago
    That means you're paying it when you pay cash too....
    - NullPrefix 8y ago
      Subsidizing card users.
  - Woofles 8y ago
    In fact I'm pretty sure Visa and Mastercard forbid charging a different price if customers pay in cash.
    - paulie_a 8y ago
      In the US, that is no longer true. They can at least have a minimum, not sure if they can charge differently, but for small purchases it is effectively the same
    - toast0 8y ago
      They don't forbid charging a different price, or even advertising a different price; they only forbid advertising a surcharge for using a card. An advertised cash discount is acceptable. States may have further requirements, for example, California requires gas stations report credit prices in at least the same size numbers as cash prices, but enforcement is light.
justboxing 8y ago
> and they even pay me to use the damn thing I understand you are referring to Cashback "Rewards" but at the end of the day, a credit card is still a Loan. You are borrowing money from the company to pay for goods and services and for all legal purposes you are a debtor.
- ktta 8y ago
  How does this matter (apart from semantics) if one pays the balance therefore doesn't accrue any interest. They are still 'getting paid', right?
  - justboxing 8y ago
    It's more than semantics. I once cancelled my Chase credit card and paid (or thought I paid off ) the balance in full. Turns out, it accrued some interest ( $8.56 to be precise) from the time of cancellation to the end of the billing cycle. Chase claimed that they sent me a statement (this was circa 2005) but I never got it. A month later I moved, and it kept going to the old address. A year later, a collection agent found me in San Francisco, just to collect that $8.56 amount and the whole thing ended up ruining my credit score for a few years. I asked them why they didn't call me, it's not like it was a huge debt that I ran away from. They gave me the cookie cutter answer "We sent you multiple statements." TL;DR: The "pay off balance within the month grace period" works only if you are on top of it all the time. Miss something even once, or you move or are overseas or something, then their penalties, fees and everything else kicks in. Again, it's a Loan, so all the operations and consequences of taking on a debt applies to credit cards, and to you as the borrower.
    - cf498 8y ago
      >The "pay off balance within the month grace period" works only if you are on top of it all the time. If you think about how many people using the "maxed out CC" as a loan because they cant get anything else, the financial model looks rather sound. The interest rate on those things is drastic if you are no longer in the grace period, and its an easy trap to fall into, especially if you are falling on bad times or are simply gullible. I dont think people who have their CC balanced at the end of the month are the business model. They are in the business of providing high interest loans.

merinowool 8y ago

That works fine until people sleepwalk into cashless society and then someone from the government will think you are undesirable and delete your assets.

usrusr 8y ago
I do all my day to day in-person payments in cash, yet all my assets would be just as vulnerable to that kind of attack as those of a completely cashless person.
greenshackle2 8y ago
Do you suggest we keep savings in cash and physical bonds, stock certificates and gold ingots under the mattress? I pay cash often but even so I very rarely have more than $1000 in cash at any given time.
- crysin 8y ago
  Which is smart because at least in the US there's a large portion of the country where police can use civil forfeiture to take your money, even if you are not guilty of any crime.
- merinowool 8y ago
  Not necessarily under the mattress but it is smart to diversify your liquid assets location
anoncoward111 8y ago
Look, I really despise the government too, but... ... FDR confiscated the gold lol. If they want something of yours, they will take it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Order_6102 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Order_6102
closeparen 8y ago
When cash was used for most retail transactions, you were still going to have a couple thousand on hand at most. That won’t last long. It’s the payroll side, not the POS side, where that matters.

davnicwil 8y ago

I know, it seems great. But who is paying for that fraud protection? Who is paying for that customer service team? Who is paying for the fact you get paid to use it? In the end.. It's you, through slightly higher prices on everything you buy every day because retailers have to price in the cost of credit card fees that pay for all that.

jayd16 8y ago
Most of the time there's no explicit CC charge so you'd still be paying for it whether you paid cash or not.
- plantain 8y ago
  That means you're paying it when you pay cash too....
  - NullPrefix 8y ago
    Subsidizing card users.
- Woofles 8y ago
  In fact I'm pretty sure Visa and Mastercard forbid charging a different price if customers pay in cash.
  - paulie_a 8y ago
    In the US, that is no longer true. They can at least have a minimum, not sure if they can charge differently, but for small purchases it is effectively the same
  - toast0 8y ago
    They don't forbid charging a different price, or even advertising a different price; they only forbid advertising a surcharge for using a card. An advertised cash discount is acceptable. States may have further requirements, for example, California requires gas stations report credit prices in at least the same size numbers as cash prices, but enforcement is light.

justboxing 8y ago

> and they even pay me to use the damn thing I understand you are referring to Cashback "Rewards" but at the end of the day, a credit card is still a Loan. You are borrowing money from the company to pay for goods and services and for all legal purposes you are a debtor.

ktta 8y ago
How does this matter (apart from semantics) if one pays the balance therefore doesn't accrue any interest. They are still 'getting paid', right?
- justboxing 8y ago
  It's more than semantics. I once cancelled my Chase credit card and paid (or thought I paid off ) the balance in full. Turns out, it accrued some interest ( $8.56 to be precise) from the time of cancellation to the end of the billing cycle. Chase claimed that they sent me a statement (this was circa 2005) but I never got it. A month later I moved, and it kept going to the old address. A year later, a collection agent found me in San Francisco, just to collect that $8.56 amount and the whole thing ended up ruining my credit score for a few years. I asked them why they didn't call me, it's not like it was a huge debt that I ran away from. They gave me the cookie cutter answer "We sent you multiple statements." TL;DR: The "pay off balance within the month grace period" works only if you are on top of it all the time. Miss something even once, or you move or are overseas or something, then their penalties, fees and everything else kicks in. Again, it's a Loan, so all the operations and consequences of taking on a debt applies to credit cards, and to you as the borrower.
  - cf498 8y ago
    >The "pay off balance within the month grace period" works only if you are on top of it all the time. If you think about how many people using the "maxed out CC" as a loan because they cant get anything else, the financial model looks rather sound. The interest rate on those things is drastic if you are no longer in the grace period, and its an easy trap to fall into, especially if you are falling on bad times or are simply gullible. I dont think people who have their CC balanced at the end of the month are the business model. They are in the business of providing high interest loans.