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You say to use a credit card over a debit card for the added security, but then advocate paying cash instead of relying on that security. Why? I've had my Amex

You say to use a credit card over a debit card for the added security, but then advocate paying cash instead of relying on that security. Why? I've had my Amex number stolen once or twice and it was fantastically easy to straighten out. Amex noticed it and called me. They next-day'd a new card, and provided me with a list of places I autopay so I could change my CC#. The whole ordeal cost me maybe 20 minutes of my time -- well worth the benefit of not fretting over account security.

pasbesoin 12y ago
The list of places one "autopays" (recurring payments) is a new one, to me. Although not all of my payments are monthly or on a regular schedule. I had to replace a card (at my initiation) a few years ago. The card was overnighted, but I still had to change a number of registrations using it. For $5 or $10 somewhere, I sometimes decide the risk of such a hassle isn't worth it. As various vendors have had demonstrated what I always, based upon personal experience, wondered about: Poor security. As that has grown in reporting in the last couple of years, I've continued to tighten up on where I'll use a card. Some further years back, there was a burgeoning problem with "carbons" in the old mechanical swipe mechanisms. Many places didn't dispose of them properly, leading to dumpster diving -- or their setting aside by a malicious employee. If you thought the place felt "dodgey", you paid in cash. Plus ca change... And as I also mentioned, I feel not just a lack of desire to hand that percentage over to some big issuer / payment processor combine, but an outright obligation not to. "Big finance" is already "out of control", and I think we have an obligation not to feed it and so empower it further. Not the entrenched players who have so recently and persistently demonstrated their own corrupt and malicious nature. P.S. While I'm at it, I'll also mention that I don't want to participate further in data mining that I find is increasingly antagonistic to the card holder's best interests. Buy the wrong stuff, go to the wrong places, etc., and the next thing you know, e.g. your insurance rates may increase. You might even have employment problems. Who knows? Data mining is still in its "Wild West" phase. So far -- so far as I know -- serial numbers on $5's and $10's are not being tracked. (I'm unsure about $20's. $50's and $100's, probably soon if not already.)

pasbesoin 12y ago

The list of places one "autopays" (recurring payments) is a new one, to me. Although not all of my payments are monthly or on a regular schedule. I had to replace a card (at my initiation) a few years ago. The card was overnighted, but I still had to change a number of registrations using it. For $5 or $10 somewhere, I sometimes decide the risk of such a hassle isn't worth it. As various vendors have had demonstrated what I always, based upon personal experience, wondered about: Poor security. As that has grown in reporting in the last couple of years, I've continued to tighten up on where I'll use a card. Some further years back, there was a burgeoning problem with "carbons" in the old mechanical swipe mechanisms. Many places didn't dispose of them properly, leading to dumpster diving -- or their setting aside by a malicious employee. If you thought the place felt "dodgey", you paid in cash. Plus ca change... And as I also mentioned, I feel not just a lack of desire to hand that percentage over to some big issuer / payment processor combine, but an outright obligation not to. "Big finance" is already "out of control", and I think we have an obligation not to feed it and so empower it further. Not the entrenched players who have so recently and persistently demonstrated their own corrupt and malicious nature. P.S. While I'm at it, I'll also mention that I don't want to participate further in data mining that I find is increasingly antagonistic to the card holder's best interests. Buy the wrong stuff, go to the wrong places, etc., and the next thing you know, e.g. your insurance rates may increase. You might even have employment problems. Who knows? Data mining is still in its "Wild West" phase. So far -- so far as I know -- serial numbers on $5's and $10's are not being tracked. (I'm unsure about $20's. $50's and $100's, probably soon if not already.)