No CC

[SwampDonkey]

For some reason my life insurance company will not allow online payment. They will take a cheque or pre-authorized Visa transactions. The only big institution that I've seen that won't do online payment. Found out through ignorance that there is no law to guarantee payment by cash up here. The person selling has all the rights of payment method not the person paying. So if I have cash, and they only accept debit card or visa, then I can't pay for it in cash. It's ludicrous. : One time I had to call the bank to allow the ATM to raise my daily withdrawal in cash. I had no check that day for a bill of building material. And even if I did, I later found out they may not even take a cheque anyway because of the amount. It's interesting. So much for credit history, I've never stiffed anyone in my life. :D

We have HST (Goods and Services Tax and Provincial Sales Tax combined). You should see how many times a gallon of gas gets taxed. Besides the fuel tax and carbon tax, your being taxed on taxes. :D It's like compound interest, only it's guaranteed government income.

[Ianab]

No one in Norway under 40 knows what a check is; they were discontinued nearly 30 years ago

You beat us by about 28 years. :D

NZ want's to keep the cash option available, even though it's down to about 2% of total transactions in the economy. We don't have that universal phone app yet, so there a situations where it's useful. 

[Ianab]

You should see how many times a gallon of gas gets taxed

That's a sore point here too, because the road fuel is taxed at the wholesaler, you are actually paying a tax on that tax at the pump. Same with booze and cigarettes that attract an excise tax at manufacture or import, but then GST gets added to the total. No incentive to change that as it would reduce the tax collection. 

[SwampDonkey]

HST is applied to wholesale gas price, retail price and delivery cost. That's on top of federal excise, provincial motor fuel tax, and carbon tax. Heating oil has HST applied one time. It's quite a racket. All the free stuff has to be paid somehow, whether you ever use it or not. The sad state of the rural roads shows it's not spent on rural roads much. Ditches only get brushed every 25 years. Power lines, only when trees knock it down, so piece meal, one downed tree at a time. :D

[customsawyer]

I didn't mean to derail this thread but how about taxes on food? :D

[SwampDonkey]

Yeah that is all over the map. Taxed in a convenient store, not in grocery. I've seen tax on canned coffee in some places and not in others. :D Taxes on treats, not on raw carrots or milk. You don't think milk has been processed? Comes out of the cow at 2% MF and D3 fortified, yup. :D Cranberries in a bag from the treat shelf, taxed. Over in the cooking area, no tax. :D

[Cedarman]

There will be a time when the sun quits shining and the wind quits blowing, the electrons will quit flowing.  Cash can be useful.  Checks can be cashed when the sun starts shining and the wind blows again.

[kantuckid]

Our local Civic Center in Huntsville has announced that it is going cashless.  All transactions will be done by cards or electronically, or other means.  I'm not sure about the parking garage, I think it will still have cash and card boxes.  This facility hosts everything from basketball, hockey, rodeos, arts festivals, boat shows, concerts, etc, many things several times a day, it's a fairly busy facility.  

One of our sons was living in Birmingham some years back and needed to put a car I'd gifted him in his name in AL from the KY title. I remember that he burned an entire workday to do that simple thing. In my county what with zero lines at the clerk we walk in and out in minutes.
KY state an county agencies depend on the full amounts of collections to operate so I can see why they charge for CC's. In poor areas, to lose a % of fees is a huge hit.
In KY generally speaking, nutritional foods are not taxed anywhere. In a manner of speaking and sadly speaking, the poor here who often eat prepared, carry out or dine in foods in spite of the food programs, etc. are being taxed based on their own laziness, ignorance or lack of taking full advantage of what's available. I see it everyday here!

[snobdds]

I use google pay when ever I can.  If the swipe dosen't occur, there is no fee.  


The days of carrying around a card are quickly coming to an end.  Digital payments are here and pretty efficient. 

I just activate the app on my phone, and hold it close to the terminal.  No pins or card numbers stored on unknown servers. 

Google just gives a verification to the merchant.  Done. 

If someone needs to pay me, I open the google pay app that puts a QR code that the other person scans.  The payment is transferred in seconds. 

[snobdds]

Then, I can download all the transactions into google wallet to save receipts.  Can organize by month, year, etc.  Never save a receipt again.  

It can also do awesome budgeting stuff to track expenses...if you're into that. 

[btulloh]

I've started using that approach more and more. Mainly Apple Pay and Zelle for me. Ebills for all the monthly stuff. Convenient and secure. Things like google pay and Apple Pay are very secure. Handing a cc to a server in a restaurant is a high risk thing these days, but we've all been doing it for so long we don't give a second thought usually. 

[snobdds]

I've started using that approach more and more. Mainly Apple Pay and Zelle for me. Ebills for all the monthly stuff. Convenient and secure. Things like google pay and Apple Pay are very secure. Handing a cc to a server in a restaurant is a high risk thing these days, but we've all been doing it for so long we don't give a second thought usually.

Yes, a much safer system that putting your CC out everywhere. 

[SwampDonkey]

Two of the biggest information gathering and selling outfits going. Secure. :D

[snobdds]

Data mined and secure are two different things. 

I have a google operating system on my Samsung phone.  There is no way to escape it so you might as well use the benefits. 

Everything is data mined these days.  Everything. 

[kantuckid]

Todays WSJ has a CC article wherein a financial advisor discusses how many cards various types of people (in business, travelers, credit score concerns, so on) should have and the advantages of each based on that use. Lots of features I don't need but interesting none the less. I'ver never know my credit score nor needed to know it but having two cards raises one's score.
It goes over many various CC types and what they provide you. If you're in business, it's a must read article.  

[SwampDonkey]

My uncle was perplexed some years ago. He was buying a truck I think. The dealer was going over the paper work and remarked, you've got no credit history. He had never used a credit or debit card, always used cash and he had intentions of buying that truck with cash. Wasn't going to finance any truck. :D My grandfather and his brother were the same, always cash, not even a cheque was ever used. :D His brother left his two kids $500,000 each when he passed. He was an old rail road man, never suffered the depression years, later years there was high interest on savings until the end of the 80's. ;D

[beenthere]

Yep, lost a nephew this year doing the "cash" thing. Word gets around in central Iowa, and a person from nearby came one night posing as a sheriff deputy allowed in the house, where nephew and his wife were nearly beaten to death (tortured her) until they gave the combination to the safe. Stole his cash and he died 3 months later from his injuries. Wife recovered from her injuries. Caught the guy and he is now in jail. Sad tale.

[SwampDonkey]

Was a local guy here, lived with parents all his life. After he passed away his siblings found $1M in a safe. It was old money because the brother had never had a steady job. I know two others around my age, never worked in their lives, live alone. Living on old money. One was a grandson of a large bakery, the other a grandson of a sawmill owner. Both businesses died pretty much when the old people did. There are a few folks with lots of cash for sure. I would not worry over being robbed for cash, people will kill you over a 4-wheeler to, to sell for cash to feed their dope habit.

[peakbagger]

Try to book a rental card or reservations for a hotel without a credit card, its not going to happen. (Unless the company you work for has a card assigned to you)

I use a credit card and have a backup I keep active as on occasion I get a fraud alert and usually they just reissue a new card number and it takes a few days to get the new one. I also closed down all my credit reports several years ago. The only people that can see the reports are the companies I have credit with. Its free to do but if you need access for new credit, they sometimes charge a fee to turn access back on. The only hassle is the US government uses some of the credit report companies to confirm identity. Healthcre.gov does that. I found a workaround but it was a PITA initially.

One of my credit cards lists my credit score and it tells me that I could improve my credit score if I have more recent installment debt. Last loan was 20 years ago and do not plan to get any new ones so I live with a slightly lower credit score;) 

[SwampDonkey]

Personally, I've never rented a car or made reservations for a hotel stay. I have a CC. I order lots of stuff online, saves running all over burning gas to find out no one has it to start with. :D I do not own a cell phone, but bank online. I've seen more than one news report over etransfer scams, I never use that. And in those reports the victims are always on the hook until the bank gets shamed into it by the news.

And so that no one thinks I made it up, here's one article.

Edmonton woman out $320 as e-transfer fraudsters cash in during pandemic | CBC News

[Ianab]

Scam artists will use whatever method of transactions they can fool you into using. You know the old saying "Never buy a pig in poke" It means don't hand over your cash unless you know there is actually a pig in that barrel. Not sure how long ago "Poke" was used as a size of barrel, but it's in the hundreds of years. 

If you send a scammer cash, ITunes gift cards, a check, (or anything of value really), chances are you won't be getting it back. The way the bank treats it is that YOU were conned into handing over the money. It wasn't hacked / stolen / a bank error, then you can usually get a refund. An electronic transfer is basically the same as handing over cash.

CCs are somewhat safer as there IS a method to dispute and hopefully reverse a charge. But that's one of the reasons for the higher fees. If the poke you receive a month later does't actually contain a pig, you can usually get a refund. 

[SwampDonkey]

The scammers are definitely targeting the vulnerable. Whereas most folks can think things through, some aren't capable or lack a few skills let's say.

[PC-Urban-Sawyer]

From wikipedia:

A poke is a sack or bag, from French poque, which is also the etymon of "pocket", "pouch", and "poach". Poke is still in regional use. Pigs were formerly brought to market for sale in a cloth bag, a poke.

[Ianab]

I was confused about the sack / barrel thing. But either way, check that there is actually a pig in there before handing over your hard earned coins.  :D

[SwampDonkey]

When I was a kid, we bought piglets and they were brought home in the trunk of the car in a burlap sack. The burlap sack was likely our own because dad used burlap sacks when processing potatoes for export, 100 or 75 lb capacity. So this was in the 70's when we raised pigs. The old barn got named the 'hog house', even though it started out as a chicken barn back in the 50's. :D