8 ms·
Do people do enough debit card transactions to make this loophole worthwhile? I avoid using my debit card as much as possible since the impact of theft is much
by pwarner 3y ago
Do people do enough debit card transactions to make this loophole worthwhile?
I avoid using my debit card as much as possible since the impact of theft is much worse for me as a consumer. I experience fraudulent credit card charges every few years, but it's not real money gone from my account.
I'd be much more annoyed if it was.
- fnordpiglet 3y agoWith cash back and points incentives, withholding the non trivial value of the insurance of which you speak, the only rational reason to not use a credit card is bad credit. Now, for the merchant….
- ksherlock 3y agoI've encountered a couple businesses that charge an extra service fee for credit card payments but not debit card payments.
- bombcar 3y agoThis is becoming more common now that the government broke the credit cartel - especially for larger ticket items like auto repairs.
- lotsofpulp 3y agoThat happened in 2010. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durbin_amendment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durbin_amendment
- MakeThemMoney 3y agoAs they should. They credit card cartel should have never been allowed to make users of other, cheaper payment methods subsidize their benefits.
- fumeux_fume 3y agoI'll finish your sentence for you. The merchant just raises prices so you can pretend like your points are saving you money.
- nicolas_t 3y agoPoints are a way for people who buy with cash, debit cards and cards with lower fees to subsidise the travels of people who use points.
- ensignavenger 3y agoThere is nothing stopping stores from offering a discount if you pay in cash or debit. Businesses most often choose not to, so they must feel like they are getting somthing out of the deal.
- vineyardmike 3y agoHumorously, there are laws against credit card surcharges but not against cash discounts. Realistically, the price difference is probably not worth the hassle of needing two prices and card sales are probably affordable enough and common enough to not bother. https://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/15/15-50168-CV0.pdf https://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/15/15-50168-CV0.pd...
- kelnos 3y agoStrange, I've seen quite a few merchants that do the card surcharge thing, and no one seems to complain.
- rrrrrrrrrrrryan 3y agoThe Supreme Court settled it in 2017 actually - surcharges are fine now: https://archive.is/eYB5W https://archive.is/eYB5W They basically said a surcharge for credit is effectively the same thing as a discount for cash, and because of freedom of speech, merchants are free to communicate the difference to their customers either way.
- pengaru 3y ago> the only rational reason to not use a credit card is bad credit. I find it pretty damn rational to deliberately remove CONSUME MOAR incentives like points/miles/cash-back rewards from my life.
- astrange 3y agoA cash back reward is a reward for not behaving badly enough that your account gets closed (or the bank shuts down). If you want to get rid of all ability to consume things, you could stop working so you don't get paid. Actually, I think points are more like a savings account than a consumption reward, since the best deals are on international flights you have to save up a lot of points for…
- kelnos 3y agoI guess if you want to pay 100% for everything, rather than 98.5% (when there's no discounted cash option), you do you.
- supertrope 3y agoCredit card network operators brag that accepting their network means customers will spend more. If spend increases even 1.6%, you are on net spending more. CC acceptance decreases "friction." Some part of it is unlinking paying with the feeling of depleting resources when you pull cash out of your purse or wallet. Maybe running low on $20 bills and having to go to an ATM makes you decide to put one item back on the shelf. Or one's bank account is nearing bottom. In younger generations the opposite ironically can happen. They feel digital numbers fully but cash is spent more freely.
- wpietri 3y agoYeah, same. As a matter of policy, I don't take incentives, commissions, kickbacks, etc, for anything. My dad was super into points-related financial games, so I get it, but I don't need to give the professional manipulators of the world any more headspace than they already have.
- fragmede 3y ago
- sidewndr46 3y agoNot really, I've tried numerous times after negotiating the sale price of a vehicle to pay for it on a credit card. They won't do it. What they will do is allow a fraction of the payment to be made on a credit card and the rest via a wire transfer
- dboreham 3y agoStrange how people don't like giving money to valueless intermediaries.
- supertrope 3y agoCar dealers or payment network owners?
- youniverse 3y agoRecently I've heard of people getting their debit card transactions reversed, if true (might depend on the bank) then maybe.
- antoncohen 3y agoThe debit card behavior is probably bank specific. I had fraudulent transactions on my debit card. The bank caught it after a few transactions, alerted me, and shutdown the card when I told them it wasn't me. I didn't get charged for any of the fraudulent transactions. I also had a restaurant charge my debit card for my bill and another customer's bill (honest mistake, not fraud). The restaurant wouldn't refund the transaction, so I disputed it with my bank, who reversed the transaction. The bank was fully set up to dispute debit card transactions from their website.
- nicolas_t 3y agoIt’s bank specific but the major difference is that with credit cards you are protected by law whereas with debit cards it depends on the whims of your bank and the contract you signed with them
- PH95VuimJjqBqy 3y agoYou call it whims, but I don't know of any bank that doesn't offer those protections. Generally the terms are that you have to report it w/i 30 or 60 days. Maybe some of the smaller credit unions? but like the other poster, I've had people try to charge me for things that weren't mine and I've never had the problems people seem to imagine exist with debit cards. At this point I've concluded it's a marketing scheme by the CC companies that has convinced large swathes of society that debit cards are dangerous. Not only that, but I would argue the false sense of security of CC's makes it so people are less safe in their habits.
- nobody9999 3y ago>You call it whims, but I don't know of any bank that doesn't offer those protections. Generally the terms are that you have to report it w/i 30 or 60 days. Maybe some of the smaller credit unions? That's been my experience as well. Although my bank almost always declines debit card transactions if I'm more than 50 or so miles from home, making the use of credit cards much more useful when I travel.
- 3y ago
- dalyons 3y agoI think perhaps you don't understand because you presumably have a reasonable amount of money and cashflow buffer. It's hard to appreciate how much of a trap credit cards are if you have very little money, or live truly paycheck to paycheck. Its so easy to accidentally run past your "$0" and be stuck in the world of 30%+ interest for a long time, spending multiples of the initial cost. As such, debit cards are still very popular for people who need to control every dollar, which is a lot more people than you think. Often folk would rather a transaction be denied than to go into expensive debt - they've been burned, they've learned the hard way.
- akira2501 3y agoSome banks used to "helpfully" give you a spot loan when you ran below zero balance. Some banks still charge you overdraft fees. Most banks charge you absurd fees for basic debit features. I see a lot of people using pre-paid credit cards. You can just roll into Walgreen's, flop cash on the counter, and "charge up" your card.
- dalyons 3y agoThere are a lot of debit products out there. ButfFor the majority of traditional banks, if you turn off overdraft the account keeping fees for debit are far far less than the average carried CC interest bill. Those pre paid credit cards come with their own substantial fees, and usually are without rewards or purchase protections. I’m not entirely sure what you’re getting at?
- akira2501 3y ago> Those pre paid credit cards come with their own substantial fees, and usually are without rewards or purchase protections. Having looked over a few the fees aren't any different than what you'd expect at a commercial bank like Wells Fargo. Many do come with rewards, often tied to the network of stores that issues them. Purchase protections aren't universal on standard cards. > I’m not entirely sure what you’re getting at? That debit cards aren't inherently safer than credit cards and this is reflected in the scope of available products.
- blasphemers 3y agoATM's are still everywhere, so I would assume people use them.