I had my debit/CC card hacked once and after proving I did not make the purchases and giving the police information on who did, I was still out the money. The bank looked at it as MY money was stolen and not theirs. They were not helpful at all.

So now I only use a credit card or cash to pay for things. Sometimes I need cash (donations, gifts, etc.,) and it is just as easy to take out say $200 and use some of that for groceries instead of putting it on the CC.

I don't think anything is quicker, easier, or safer than a CC. I did not use one when I was younger, but now use it for anything over $15.

Greg, the money is never in the merchant's account "before the customer leaves the store" simply because the merchant must 'batch" all the sales at once and they are transferred to the processor's bank. At best, the money is in the merchant's bank the next business day. However, many processors wait until the second business day.

Okay, maybe I was exaggerating a little. :)
But it is no where near 6-8 weeks.

The town hall will take a credit card for your tax bill...with a 3% service fee.
The accountant who does my taxes will take cash or checks, but since he'd be charged a couple percentage points for processing debit and credit cards, has held off accepting those so far. He's unwilling to absorb the cost.

In our state, one can't charge extra for taking a credit card, but one can offer a discount for cash.

UH OH!

I was at the grocery store yesterday, and.... GASP! The lady in front of me took out her purse, looked inside and found ... her checkbook!!! Then she proceeded to waste my oh so valuable time by actually writing out a check! And to make matters worse, she had the temerity to do the math in the register too!!

Then she had the nerve to casually chat with the cashier while writing out the check like they were old friends.
Oh, wait. They actually were old friends.

Never mind.

I am surprised that a retail store takes cheques. I haven't seen a cheque written around here for years. I still pay some bills by cheque, but I've never seen anyone write a cheque for groceries or other retail purchase.

Jasdip, I had not thought of that and you are right. I never see anyone writing a check. I right checks just for insurance and taxes and the occasionally service man.

I see people writing checks at the grocery store. Check has to be on a local bank and presented with an ID. Not sure if they can be written for anything above the amount of purchase. They probably can be.

As opposed to when I lived out East, folks here are pretty patient and good natured. My time isn't so valuable that a little time spent in a line is going to ruin my day.

For what it's worth, the very popular produce stand here only takes checks or cash. I buy much there although erratically, and always write a check as I rarely have cash as the trips aren't typically planned.

I have a good friend who is frugal and an excellent money manager. She took her family to Italy from cc rewards accumulated over three years. But she is disciplined and never spent more than she would if she had cash on hand. (or specifically budgeted)

My small local merchants LOVE it when I pay in cash or check. No debit or credit fees.

I recently bailed a friend out of jail. Talk about inconvenient. They only accept cash or bond and we're talking hundreds or thousands of $. Drive to a not-very-close and kind of scary place with lots of rules and uniforms and razor wire. Fill out paperwork and wait for a couple hours to meet with the bailiff, who then combs over paperwork and meticulously counts out the money. Bailiff actually thanked me for bringing hundred dollar bills, she said some people pay with smaller notes! Then wait some more for miserable friend to finally be released.

Kind of puts things in perspective - who cares about somebody taking a minute to count out their grocery money?

This post was edited by terrene on Wed, Sep 17, 14 at 10:55

LOL and Woot Woot @ christopherh who said - "This is gonna drive Snidely nuts. I am an artist and do art fairs for a living. 70% of my sales are cash. I was making a transaction last weekend for something like $37.72 with tax. I was handed a nice new $100 bill. I took out my counterfeit bill pen. Marked the bill to make sure it's real. Took out 3 pennies and a quarter from the register. Took out 2 $1 bills. Took out 3 $20s. Then I did something nobody does anymore... I COUNTED OUT the change to the customer! Its then I realized I do it for every cash transaction."

That is beautiful and rare. Oh - And the grocery store shenanigan was hilarious! This exact scenario happens a lot in my neck of the woods. I live in a place where where folks are not all about self importance. I prefer to pay with cash but do self check out so no one has to wait on me. And at many of the big stores I will write a check if I don't have cash for the reasons discussed earlier.

I think there are lots of plastic people in the world today, so it goes to figure that plastic is preferred by so many!

I was in the self check-out lane at the grocery store the other day and one guy had his cash and whatever else may have been in his pocket sitting on scanner. He's picking through the bills and straightening them so he could feed them into the machine.

I finished my check-out (just a few items) and the guy was still there...

Wow, never knew there were such strong opinions.

Am one of those who uses credit card for just about everything. Yes, even the $1 diet coke @ McDonalds drive-thru. Find transactions much faster than using cash. Also pay bill in full, every month. No fees, get reward points.

Glad I have done that, the statements are a great resource as I complete my total loss contents list - my house burned down and I need to submit to the insurance company a list of EVERYTHING I had in the house in order to get $$$ to replace things.

Some reasons why others may pay in cash:
1. they are in a witness protection program :-)
2. horrible credit and cannot get a card
3. have gotten into trouble using credit cards in the past

1. I do not have a criminal record. Not even a parking or speeding ticket.

2. I have excellent credit (the title company agent on my last home purchase said I had one of the highest credit ratings she had seen). I have three bank cards. Had several dept store cards many years ago until they were closed for non-use since the bank cards can cover any situation when needed.

3. Nope.

This post was edited by dadoes on Sun, Sep 21, 14 at 7:54

I haven't carried the check book in the last 10 years. I love NOT using it. The CC is my best friend.

"...Some reasons why others may pay in cash:
1. they are in a witness protection program :-)
2. horrible credit and cannot get a card
3. have gotten into trouble using credit cards in the past..."
********************************
That is an absurd assumption.

I doubt the first one but the second and third are right on. There are people out there that can't get a checking account or CC. It is not an assumption it is experience dealing with people.

mdln said some reasons ... not the only reasons.

We took a Financial Peace class. He recommended we pay cash at the stores and cut up our credit cards. You can feel and see how much you are spending. With a card you tend to over spend and get in debt. That is one of the ways he became a millionaire.

That is one of the ways he became a millionaire.
The other is claiming to be an expert and charging people to attend his class. ;)

That advice may be true for some people. For me personally, I find the opposite to be true. If I have cash on me, it seems to just disappear on small purchases. I tend to think "Oh, I have a buck in my pocket. Maybe I'll grab a chocolate bar!"
If I only have a credit card, I won't bother.

Plus, at the end of the month I look at my statement and add up all of the necessities and the spontaneous purchases and either feel good about my self or resolve to spend less the following month.

I think that the people who get in trouble with credit cards don't tend to even look at their statement because they don't want to be reminded of what they did.

I think we can probably just leave it at different strokes for different folks. I can do either (cash or plastic), because I think about whether I need to make a purchase before I do so, in either case.

Thank you Greg_2010. Am trying to refrain from ''absurd'' commenters and just ignore them, so I appreciate your clarification of what I said. (Am in Chicago and dated a CPD homicide detective for too many years; thus, my thinking of this.)

Regarding witness protection, the following discuss this situation.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/adamtanner/2013/07/17/infamous-mafia-hit-man-tells-how-he-rebuilt-identity-in-witness-protection-program/

http://thebillfold.com/2014/08/how-people-in-the-witness-protection-program-do-money/

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Witness-protection-program/td-p/2202255

Maybe you have to deal with witness protection cases, I don't know. But for me that one came completely out of left field.
You see, where I live we have literally no crime. We don't even lock our doors. And we have no police except the State Trooper who patrols every once in a while. If a crime is committed in our town, everybody kinda knows who did it.
Another reason our crime rate is so low is that our state is possibly the most well armed state in New England. Come to think of it, I don't know anybody who lives near me who doesn't have a gun or two.

And not being able to get a checking account because of bad credit is something I never heard of. I got my first checking account at age 15 and I had no credit at all. Why would someone be denied a checking account based on a credit rating?

No credit is better than bad credit.
If someone has had an account closed because of unpaid overdraft fees, then a bank would be very hesitant to open another account for that person.

chrisopherh - Your town sounds like an ideal place for one in the witness protection program. Many people in witness protection programs are normal law abiding citizens, their placement has nothing to do with crime in your area.

Also greg2010 is correct no credit is better than bad credit. People with a bad banking history can have trouble getting a checking account.

No one is stating a person paying with cash should be looked at with suspicion, only that there are multiple reasons for paying with cash.

Have you been to Home Depot and used a credit card this year? A good reason to use cash for anything but a major purchase. I felt no fear with the announcement that HD's cash registers had been hacked and 56 million credit card numbers compromised -- I use cash there and almost everywhere the vast majority of the time.

I have three credit cards that I could use and a very high credit score, but prefer cash and no debt.

I felt no fear with Home Depot's announcement either. If my credit card is compromised, I'm not responsible for the charges. I just notify the credit card company and they remove the charge.
No big deal.

Home Depot, yes. Just like Target before. The Target incident resulted in no loss nor any real inconvenience for me. My bank sent me a new card, I needed to spend maybe 15 minutes to change the account numbers in my various autopay accounts and that was it.

Using a credit card for many is just a convenient means of payment. For those who don't carry a balance forward, it's not "debt', any more than is any bill you get when you've received goods or services before paying.

Cash, credit card, pay as you like.

Target got hit pretty bad with credit card hacking several months ago here. We have a debit card if we care to use it.

I wouldn't use a debit card for anything. Get that hacked and your checking account can be drained in very short order.

Home Depot, Target, Michaels, Jimmy Johns - and a boat load of restaurants, gas stations, local shops that are not reported at all. Anyone can lift your credit card info easily - there are ways and means and this is NOT news. LOL

Credit cards and Debit cards do have protections on them, but the holder needs to be aware and set alerts and monitor the activity. I prefer cash for small purchases but that's just me.

The news loves to dramatize the numbers. If your checking account gets drained, then you should find a new bank for g'ness sake!

This post was edited by sasafras on Thu, Sep 25, 14 at 20:42

"With a card you tend to over spend and get in debt."

Uh, no I don't. I use a card for everything, pay off the entire balance every month, and get a couple of free airline tickets a year as a result of the earned points.

There are some people who make poor choices with credit cards. But to paint with such a broad brush (as many financial advice gurus do) very often results in incorrect generalizations.

People still pay with cash?

Why would I pay with cash, it costs me $5 to take money out of the atm nowadays, credit card gives me 1-5% cash back instead.

You are using the wrong bank and wrong ATM if you are paying that much.

I make heavy use of credit cards, which I pay off each month. That lets me use the bank's money for a couple of weeks, allows me to rack up a lot of points that I can use for free airline tickets, and gives me a lot of protection, especially online, so I don't have to worry about getting ripped off if someone doesn't deliver the goods.

I do use cash when there is no alternative, but I use a bank that doesn't have ATM fees, and reimburses me if I use an ATM machine that does charge. It's very disturbing to see banks paying no or next to no interest on deposits, and then charging people effectively 1-3% to get access to their own money.

I used to do that when I made good money. I think most people tend to over spend when they have credit cards and then they carry a balance. That's where the trouble starts.

MOST people do not misuse credit cards. Sounds like you did though!

NEVER carry a balance and you will not get into that trouble you mention.

I read an article recently that TODAY about half of cardholders carry a balance. But it wasn't always this way.
Before the crash, anybody with a pulse qualified for a credit card. And many people took advantage of it.

I would do an art fair and when someone would make a purchase, I would see many take out a wad of cards an inch thick. They would take ten seconds figuring out which card to give me. 2/3 Of my sales were on plastic.

Then the crash came. People lost their jobs en masse. Unemployment didn't cover all the bills, so they used the cards to buy basics. Jobs didn't come back and they got deeper into debt to the point they were drowning.

Debt consolidation outfits flourished. As it turned out, many of them were scams.

These were people who were your average Joe & Jane. Good credit, owned a home, and paid all their bills on time. Now they're getting calls multiple times a day from the 12 credit cards they're behind on.

Only one choice left. Bankruptcy.
From January, 2009 to Sept, 2014 there were 5.4 million personal bankruptcy filings. This does not include Sears, Kmart or any business, just personal. And since many if not most are husband & wife, the number of people who went bankrupt is more than likely over 7 million.
Bankruptcy only relieves unsecured debt. Mortgage, car payments, taxes, student loans, etc are not covered. What's really left? Medical bills and credit cards.

Today when I do an art fair, only about 1/4 of my sales are on plastic. And an overwhelming majority of those are debit cards. I did a 3 day show last weekend, and I even took 10 checks.

Why pay cash? Because it's impossible to hack into all my information in the same way that can be done if I pay by credit card (vis a vis, Target last year). Because I can't overspend. If I only have a hundred in cash, and no back up, I spend a hundred or less (I now have backup, but didn't used to!). Because if some is leftover, that is, I stayed under budget, seeing the "extra" cash in my hands is a reward; sparkly green, shiny money. Ah.

:)

I use my debit card for everything--I hardly ever carry cash. Keeps me from spending on impulse items.

My mother uses cash for everything because she's older and never learned how to use a checking account when she was younger. She's uncomfortable writing checks in the store but will do so at home if she has to for certain bills. She will pay some credit card bills in person in the store with cash if she can.

I use credit cards now to get the rewards (I don't carry a balance), but up until about 5 years ago I paid cash whenever possible. I think the reason is that it's easier to control your spending that way. If you give yourself a certain amount of cash each week/month/pay period/etc., then you naturally make choices to live within that budget. If you're doing well vs. your budget during a period, then you might splurge a bit on something. If you're a bit tight, then you naturally spend less.

It's the same thing with free shipping offers like Amazon Prime. It makes impulse purchases that much easier. Credit card details are stored, you can place an order in 30 seconds and have it 2 days later. Nothing could be easier.

So much self righteousness on this thread. Some people are good with impulse control and money, some aren't. To expect everyone to be like you, is ridiculous as we are all different and your faults - yes- you have some- are different than others faults.

It would be nice to be able to encourage others in the right direction rather than criticizing and fault finding.
That kind of behavior often so discourages someone who isn't innately a "saver".

C'mon, these are forums. A place for a free and open expression of ideas and opinions.
That's what all the gardenweb forums are, except the "hot topics" forum. If you don't agree with their politics you're personally attacked.

It is difficult to use a credit card here. Everyone uses cash.
There are some shops which will take a credit card, but it takes a lot longer than cash. First of all, when you offer it to the cashier/sales person, he or she will not touch it. He or she calls for Maria, or whoever has been trained to use it. Maria then rummages about under the counter for some time until she triumphantly pulls out a dusty, imprinting machine and a stack of payment forms with the carbon smeared throughout the stack. In the meantime, the queue behind you has grown considerably. Those with the correct money, insist on the cashier serving them NOW, even though the till is not free. Those with close to the correct amount just push through, saying that they will pay the difference next time. Chaos ensues.

Even large purchases are cash transactions. When I bought my house here, I had to collect the cash from the bank and carry it through the town in a plastic carrier bag. When I bought my car, another carrier bag of cash changed hands.

Most people, with good reason, do not trust the banks. They keep just enough in their account to keep the account open, but always take out in full, any wages, pensions etc immediately. I do the same since I don't trust the banks either.
Daisy

What is it that you don't trust about a bank?
Do you fear the bank stealing your money or losing it through investments?
Do you fear accounting errors?
What country are you in?

I am from the U.K. but now live in Crete, Greece.
It is a beautiful place to live, with wonderful people.
The view from my village.

{{gwi:2134399}}

The view from my dentists waiting room.

{{gwi:2134400}}

No. I do not trust the banks at all.
For example, I have both a euro account and a pound sterling account with my local Greek bank. When I need funds sent over from my U.K. pension, I instruct my U.K. bank to send sterling to my local sterling account. I then transfer some or all of it to use into my euro account, WHEN THE EXCHANGE RATE IS ADVANTAGEOUS.
The last time I did this the money did not turn up. My U.K. bank swore that they had sent it. It had certainly left my U.K. account but had not arrived in my local sterling account. Weeks later, it was found in my euro account at a very, very, poor exchange rate.
But how had it got there? This was a different account number which I had never given to my U.K. bank.
It turned out that my U.K. bank was not allowed to transfer my money directly into my local bank. Apparently, it has to go through a middle bank. Why? I don't know.
The intermediary bank was Deutsche bank.
Deutsche bank stole some of my money by forcing my local Greek bank to give them my account number for my euro account so that they could change my sterling into euros at a very poor rate and then pocket the difference. The day the money was put into my euro account, my Greek bank was offering 1.20 euros to 1 pound sterling.
Deutsche bank changed it at 1.15 euros to 1 pound sterling.
That is a big difference when it was thousands.
After many weeks of expensive telephoning and trips into town to my local bank, I finally got some of it back from Deutsche bank. Not all of it , but it had made me so ill, I just gave up.
So, Deutsche bank stole....my local Greek bank should not have given them my account number information.....so no, I do not trust any bank.
Daisy

If you're in Crete, an old-fashioned place with many old-fashioned practices, your situation is different from others.

Besides the less than modern ways and fears of financial collapse that have been hovering for some years in Greece (which would make people distrustful of banks), do understand that in many "Mediterranean" places, business is done in cash to help people avoid paying taxes. If you own a house and have hired anyone for local services, I'm sure you experience this consistently

For payments by check, the price will be much higher. Heck, that's even true for many tradesmen and other service providers here.

Where is "here" snidely?
Daisy

My "here" is California.

I lived in Western Europe (pre-Euro days) for three years, I thought the banks were great. No question, though, there were traps and right and wrong (from timing and cost standpoints) ways to do things. A friendly, knowledgeable banker was valuable to know. Just thinking about the phrase "knowledgeable Greek banker" starts to sound like an oxymoron to me. I'm sure many are friendly.

Have you explored all your bank and transfer options? It's got to be cheaper (more favorable exchange rate for you) to convert sterling to Euros in the UK than in Greece. Have you thought about having a Euro account with your UK bank? Or a sterling and Euro account somewhere like in Luxembourg? I'll bet by being your own intermediary (and simply making Euro transfers into a Greek Euro account), you'd do better.

Good luck.