Chickenboy
Posts: 24520
Joined: 6/29/2002
From: San Antonio, TX
Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: rogo727
Truth of the matter is in general most Americans do not pay off their bills monthly. Debit cards insure you don't ring up a huge bill and then can't pay it off.
You're right in that most Americans don't pay off their bills monthly. It's a pity that so many people live beyond their means. I think a big part of it is basic monetary / fiscal / economic education. Many people are completely snowed by the most basic aspects.
Re: debit cards ability to insure fiscal solvency: only in the sense that they don't let you charge up vast sums that you don't have. They certainly can, in conjunction with checks, cash and teller withdrawals, let you overdraft your account (and ring up huge fees). There's danger both ways.
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Every time you use your credit card every credit card company charges a fee to the retailer ....debit cards do not.
I don't think that's true, Rogo. If your debit card is branded as a Mastercard or Visa (almost all of them are), there's a fee paid somewhere along the chain. Whether that's the retailer to MC/V, your bank / S&L to MC/V or you to either of the aforementioned entities, someone's got to pay somewhere along the line.
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I would much rather invest in a bank in my hometown than send a check to some company in a large city who could care less who I am.
Meh. Most of the banks / S&Ls in my area are chains-TCF, Wells Fargo, USBank are common ones around these parts. There are some small S&Ls or local banking chains. Many of these got eaten in 2008-2009 with the bloodletting of the financial crash. I don't envy those people that had to deal with the FDIC to get their money / accounts straightened out when these little guys (and there were a lot of 'em around the country) went under. Sure, it can happen to the bigs too, but with much less frequency.
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As far as the IRA comment... Take the money you would spend on fee's and interest rates and put it into that. It cost me nothing to have a debit card. My debit card is accepted at every single your place your credit card is. It is safer, builds the same credit rating as a credit card.
I don't think it's safer, in terms of fraudulent activity. Please note the nature of the OPs instigating complaint. Debit card fraud is rampant and potentially devastating. I'd rather play with someone else's money than let them have unfettered access to mine, thanks.
If you pay off your CC monthly, you don't have any interest accumulating on your account. There are some CCs with annual fees-true-but many with no annual fees. For those where that's important, you can shop around. Those that are capable of understanding the limitations of CCs versus debit cards and have fiscal discipline, can take advantage of some of the nice rewards offered. Airline tickets, 'cash back' awards, and so on.
Re: funding an IRA-yes. That's a no brainer. One should be saving for retirement judiciously through a number of different vehicles (401(k); 403(b); IRA; Roth-IRA; SEP-IRA, etc.). One should also have ~6 months of emergency fund (liquid) available too. Car loans should be paid off tootsweet and kids should have money invested for their college education early and often. Home mortgages should be refinanced and converted to a fixed interest rate at a low APR and people older than 50 should look into buying long-term care insurance. All good common sense. But it doesn't address the debit vs. credit card argument.
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Printable Version
RE: Been ripped off - 
Your post opened it up, but looked more like you may have accidentally got involved with a company that happened to be something other than they appeared. 
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