This morning I after breakfast I ran into a conveniencish store on post to grab a couple quick things before going back to work. I gathered my purchases and got in line. The lady rung up my purchases and I went to pay with my card. I tried 3 times and my card didn't want to play nice. The lady got it to read and for some reason I can't fathom it was declined. I owe almost nothing on the card. The current balance is less then 10% of the cards limit and that is just because the payment I made (to take it back to 0) is heald up in their system. In any case the electronic money gods did not deem this purchase worthy. I reached into my pocket and took out the cash to pay for my purchases and was on my way, somewhat irritated but with the things I needed.
The point of this (aside that usaa cards can be tempermental) is that even if you aren't worried about our economic system collapsing, banking holidays or even the power going out sometimes you need to suddenly make purchases with cash. Checks aren't commonly accepted anymore (I have a personal theory that since the wide spread increase in debit card usage the rate of check fraud has gone up but I have nothing to back it) and Old Ladies at the grocery store aside almost checks are fairly uncommon. Cards might or might not work but people accept cash so carry some around.
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12 comments:
Glad to know I'm not the only person experiencing problems with USAA this morning...
check fraud has gone up but I have nothing to back it
Having nothing to back it is exactly what constitutes fraud :p
I don't use credit cards. All mine are debit/check cards. The principal, however, is the same.
My local credit union, just a few blocks away, is completely automated. There are two employees on site, a receptionist and a customer service rep. The tellers are all remote viewed by a small TV screen and a speaker/phone. Wonder what would happened if the cash becomes jammed in the machine?
FWIW, sometimes when CC aren't working because the card isn't being read (usually from getting worn out) a trick that works alot of the time is to get a plastic grocery store bag (the ones that fall apart when you have a single gallon of milk in them) and wrap the plastic once or twice around the magnetic strip - then swipe it (with the bag around it).
Don't know why... it just seems to help.
The 2 girls I work with swear by their debit cards. Must be a chick thing. The guy I work with usually pays cash when all 4 of us go out to lunch on payday. My checking is for those bills that are not automatic payments or transfers like visits to the doc or dentist and the pharmacy or bills that vary wildly like electricity. I decide what gets paid now and what gets deferred. One is less likely to overspend when counting cash!
My USAA got declined this morning too, and ironically I had no cash so I used a check.
I use my debit card for almost all purchases - makes me live within my means. I always carry at least $60 in cash on me, just in case.
My credit card is my last resort.
A debit card is supposed to differ from credit cards in two ways. First, the amount of a transaction or purchase is to be paid immediately from a drawing account, where a funds available balance exists at the time of purchase.
Second, when a merchant accepts a credit card, the credit card issuer deducts 2% to 4% plus of the transaction amount, and likely adds a fixed fee also. A debit transaction on the other hand is supposed to be processed like a check - the bank provides the entire transaction amount to the merchant.
My bank recently changed their debit card. That smugly smile and claim, "Yes, this is a debit card! Good anywhere!" only they are lying - their new card performs credit transactions against the merchant. Money for the bank, and additional cost of doing business for the merchant. Some stores here in Ponca City have stopped accepting debit cards.
Banks recently stopped processing checks. Instead, a scanned image of the check is emailed to your bank, and often the merchant hands your check back to you - which has already been paid from your bank account to the merchant. It wouldn't surprise me to find that MasterCard and Visa claim these are now "credit card" transactions, too.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, move over for the true villains of the American economy - MasterCard and Visa.
Possibly the USAA credit card system was hijacked and numbers stolen? This happened to me with a Discover card which was refused when I tried to buy in a Sam's club. Had to spend 20 minutes on the phone in a busy store to get things straightened out. Their system was hacked and CC numbers stolen. Lots of PO'ed people behind me in the checkout line.
Great thing about USAA is that I can check online to verify charges, which I do every time I use it. Have caught several charges that were wrong quickly and got them taken off. Only takes a few minutes at night to check,between checking the blogs and porn sites.:>)
It pays to check these days, lots of folks trying to steal/scam/ID theft etc.
USAA apparently had a system failure yesterday morning. It was straightened out around 10am.
USAA has some serious issues with their credit cards. My kids lived in Canada and essentially used my USAA card (they each had their own, with their name on it) to pay for things other than rent. I was constantly getting called by USAA wanting to know if the charges were "ok", at all hours of the night. Finally I told them to put a note in the system that charges in Canada were ok and the problem got better but never went completely away.
USAA had credit card info. compromised back in Nov. by a third party process company. The process co. made an announcement inauguration night. USAA sent out notices by e-mail to compromised accounts about 10 days ago. You should check your on-line account.
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