"wait what? making one phone call (5-10 min) is hardly an ordeal, and is better than the cash alternative - losing a couple hundred dollars" I lived in part of

"wait what? making one phone call (5-10 min) is hardly an ordeal, and is better than the cash alternative - losing a couple hundred dollars" I lived in part of a murder capital that gets 300+ cops per shift according to one guy keeping up. Basic precautions kept my family, friends, and I from losing cash on hand for the time I was there. I mean, you can take as little cash and ID as you need for one trip. A guy who claimed to sell drugs and be street smart taught me to keep about $200 on me since it covered about every situation. He kept the rest of the cash in hidden safe at the house. Even working-class people can usually take a $200 hit (i.e. utility bill) vs losing a whole bank account. Whereas, various banks have done security holds, surprise fees, and screwed with me on credit items many times. A few caused real damage in ways like AnthonyMouse describes. The worst was Chase not letting me pay off a smaller, high-interest balance until I paid off a large, low-interest balance with the high-interest balance accumulating interest with every payment to other one. Before Obama Administration banned that, I told them I wasn't paying until they let me pay the higher-interest, accumulating account off first. I thought they'd, as rational actors, let me pay my debt and collect interest on other balance to avoid a major loss. They put me in collections, did a charge off, and (thanks to corrupt lawmakers) the full interest was counted by IRS as income as if the interest was loaned to me to use, too. As in, goodbye tax return. I depend on and trust credit card companies as little as possible these days. I keep paper statements like I did before. I pre-pay and minimize my use of them to credit building like I did when I started. Difference is now I see them as a toxic asset in that they can turn on us at any point. Chase decided to take a loss of about $3,000 in bogus interest and fees when they could've made the $800-1000 I actually borrowed from them that year plus claimed interest. They thought being evil would pay off by the numbers. Instead, they lost $3,000, destroyed my credit that year, and kept doing the same shit. I read similar stories by people using all kinds of services since most for-profit banks pull the same shit in a cartel manner. Use cash, credit unions with good reviews, and credit cards you don't really depend on for stuff you already have money for. Keeps the risk low. Don't assume anything will be easy even if it was in the past. My previous dealings with Chase, esp on fraud, were great. Later on, they destroyed my credit record to achieve a net loss. (shrugs) That's how such companies think. You might luck out being in an area, segment, or whatever to a company that doesn't try that stuff. Could also make it all look more easy and reliable than disputes really are for folks in another class, area, or company. Edit: One sentence was incorrect given I changed that practice a bit. Fixed it.