4 ms·
Five dollars a month, for any month in which you use your debit card for purchases. As for the "why", the immediate reason is because there have been some lega
by hugh3 15y ago
Five dollars a month, for any month in which you use your debit card for purchases.
As for the "why", the immediate reason is because there have been some legal changes vis a vis how much they can charge to the merchant for the benefit of running this transaction.
More generally, because they want to incentivize people to use their credit cards instead of debit cards. And for those who can't or don't want to get credit cards -- to incentivize them to take their business elsewhere, because the bank really doesn't make any money off people who just have checking accounts. Checking accounts are merely a gateway drug to more expensive banking products.
Doesn't bother me, I get 1% cash back on my credit card and am not dumb enough to spend more than I earn on it, so I already have no incentive to use my debit card for purchases.
- pavel_lishin 15y agoI'm annoyed at this, but I probably won't switch. I rarely use my debit card to make purchases, since I have a BoA credit card with reward points - and I've heard that debit card fraud is more difficult to combat. Do most people shop with their debit card?
- click170 15y agoIn Canada we do. I think the reliance on credit cards is largely an American phenomenon.
- mahyarm 15y agoIn Canada, people don't use Visa or Mastercard Debit cards. They use Interac, a Canadian financial network that only charges a flat fee of ~0.25 per debit card transaction. You can't use them for online purchasing although. Most Canadian's are surprised when you can use a debit card like a credit card for online purchases.
- msbarnett 15y agoThe phrasing of your last two sentences is unclear, but to clarify for those reading, you can indeed use Interac debit cards for online payments.
- latitude 15y agoI am in Canada and while Interac is indeed widely accepted, people are using it noticeably less and less in favor of reward credit cards, which are - practically speaking - delayed-payment debit cards with really good benefits. Interac's latest slogan is "Paying with Interac just feels right." When you are down to a feeling as a card benefit, you know there's a problem. Credit cards effectively won, and merchants are paying :)
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- hugh3 15y agoI did for the first five or so years after I moved to the US. At first they wouldn't let me have one because they had no way of checking my existing credit history, and after that I mostly continued out of spite. Eventually I gave in and got one for the cashback, though.
- jisaacstone 15y agoI used to own a small retail (discount) store. More than half of all sales were with debit cards. Probably the people who use debit cards now are the same people who used to use checks? I actually don't know why. It may also be that note when you get a checking account you get a 'check card' for free, but checks cost money and are not hardly accepted anymore. Also some majore discount chains such as WinCo don't accept credit cards. Debit or cash. I would theorize that debit cards are most popular among lower-income people and those with bad credit or who know they have spending problems and therefore avoid credit cards.
- SageRaven 15y agoWhen I don't have cash on-hand, I use my debit card. I always use a debit transaction, rather than a credit card transaction, because I like changes in my balance to post immediately. It sometimes takes days for CC transactions to post, and while I keep immaculate transaction records myself, it bothers me all the same that CC purchases don't show up immediately when I visit my checking account online.
- samstave 15y agoI refuse to have credit cards. EDIT: I have a corporate CC - but for personal, I dont have any CC - and only pay cash for that which I want. I have zero debt.
- sukuriant 15y agoHow {do, did, do you intend to} own a house?
- bostonOU 15y agoYou can either pay 100% cash or you can get manual underwriting. Manual underwriting is harder/takes longer, but is possible. - Put at least 20% down on your home. - Choose a 15-year, fixed-rate conventional mortgage. - Have a strong employment history and personal income to support the loan. - Demonstrate 4–6 trade lines that span 18–24 months. These are just regularly recurring expenses such as rent, electric bills, water bills, cell phones, etc. [1] http://www.daveramsey.com/article/the-truth-about-your-credit-score/lifeandmoney_creditcards/ http://www.daveramsey.com/article/the-truth-about-your-credi... [2] http://www.churchillmortgage.com/info/no-credit-score.aspx http://www.churchillmortgage.com/info/no-credit-score.aspx
- Jach 15y agoWhat bostonOU said, also get a car loan or two? I recently got my first car loan without a cosigner. I have no credit history and only student loans since I'm just a college student, yet I have a decent-paying job and I also have better credit than ~35% of Americans according to the score report.
- sukuriant 15y agoBut, he said pay everything with _cash_, and something about zero debt. Loans aren't cash and produce debt
- InclinedPlane 15y agoChecking accounts used to be a cash cow for BofA back when they could milk them for overdraft fees, but that's no longer as easy. They are also hurting from all of the mortgage pain they've been dealing with lately. They are desperate for revenue. Additionally, this isn't the whole of it, they've raised/instituted monthly fees for checking/savings accounts that don't meet certain minimum balance/deposit requirements. I have accounts with them that I got for free years ago that I haven't used in well over a year, they want to charge me nearly $400 a year for the privilege of keeping those accounts. Meanwhile, the account I use now is at a local credit union. They don't charge me crazy fees, they don't treat me like crap, and they don't look likely to be going out of business in the next few years because of crazy financial decisions.