Thanks guys. I've checked with the credit union, and due to my previous bad habit of overdrafts, I'm stuck with that lower limit. That's basically just my "mad money" anyways, so it's not important. The debit card that I signed up for from our household bank account has a very high limit ($1000 per day), so no problems there. Small merchants often have higher prices already, so I'm not going to contribute to making those prices even worse by using a form of payment that costs more when I can help it (if they raise their prices, I'm still the one that ends up paying the fee, & more people will choose to shop elsewhere). So I'll use cash for anything under $10 or so, and the debit card for everything else. That should work fine, I think. I'm not worried about the big chains, just the very small local businesses. Thanks Ed - I'll try to stop by the KT later. Not sure if I still know anyone over there or not!

Don't forget that the S&L debacle of the 80's was also triggered by changes instituted by our government. Income tax law changes made the ownership of real estate much more financially rewarding, which of course created a higher demand for real estate, thereby drove up the price. Developers saw a fabulous market and built more and more office buildings, shopping centers, apartment buildings, etc. At about the same time S&L's were allowed to invest in more types of loans and other investments. This was done in part because they were being creamed holding long-term low-rate home loans and paying out high interest on deposits. 15% CD's were not unheard of at that time, and 12% were common. Meanwhile the 30 year mortgages they had made a few years back were only paying 5 or 6% interest to the S&L's. These changes were both made by the government, but not as a concerted effort. In each case the laws were changed to address one issue. Then, at about the same time most S&L's had a lot of money lent on overpriced real estate, Congress decided to change real estate tax laws again - making real estate a less attractive investment. Not surprisingly, real estate values tanked at a time when many markets were way overbuilt to begin with. S&L's were left with loans that had looked solid at one point and found themselves having to foreclose loans on buildings that they couldn't sell and could sometimes could not even lease out. Yes there were crooks in the S&L business, who helped ruin some institutions, and we all read about those. But plenty of honest institutions found themselves in severe trouble as well. I worked for a life insurance holding company, managing income property loans. I made a career change just before the bottom dropped out, but I still talked with several people who had to deal with that mess. In the case of my former employer, they stopped making new loans in Texas when the markets started getting overbuilt. But they still had plenty of existing loans when the markets tanked. Being a nationwide company, only a small percentage of their loans were in severely depressed markets. But S&L's generally lent in their immediate area, or at least their home state. I don't remember if this was due to regulation or custom. At any rate, even the best-run S&L in many markets nearly collapsed. ------------------------------ Whew, I didn't mean to write so much! At any rate, my point is that the best-intentioned body of lawmakers will never understand every ramification of the laws they pass. They can easily cause as many problems as they fix. In the case of the unreasonable debit card holds, it really is a minute percentage of institutions that do this. In this case, I believe the gas station is the party at fault. In the whole debit-card system, banks have no way of verifying the amounts that merchants submit. Most merchants are honest and reasonably careful - if for no other reason than that they want repeat business.

oldmanriver, Some people have had good results doing the negotiations with the creditor companies themselves. One needs to have a good idea of what one wants before starting, and lots of reasons why that's the route to go. Remember - they don't want you to declare bankruptcy. You don't, either, unless you owe buckets of money, for the expenses involved in going bankrupt are substantial. And you lose almost all of your possessions. Plus - you have a bad credit history for many years. Which may not matter too much - if you don't want to ask for credit for some time. However, as I was a newly arrived tenant recently, the fuel company wanted a deposit from me before they delivered fuel. Had they checked my credit history and found a bankruptcy, quite likely it would have been somewhat higher. Whether you make arrangments with your creditors yourself or use the non-profit Credit Counselling, make sure that you can live with the arrangement, and make sure to follow through on the agreemeents that you make: don't default, even once. Forget the "minimum required monthly payment" issue - pay off as quickly as possible. But make sure that the monthly amount that you promise to pay is an amount that you can manage. Then make those payments, for sure - but pay extra when possible. Try to pay off all of the creditors as fast as you can - making additional payments above the amount that you agreed to, when possible. Cut your spending to the bone, for a while, until at least the major portion of your debt is paid. If some of the creditors insist on maintaining a substantial interest rate, do you have collateral that you could use to obtain a loan from a credit union or bank, or would they agree to a loan at lower than the rate your current creditor is charging, so that you could pay that loan off? Good wishes. Keep us posted on how things are going. We want to see you get free of debt. And that as soon as possible. ole joyful

I'm opening a bridal jewelry business online and needed a dress for my models. I found one on Ebay that was originally $845 and I got it for around $70!! It was never worn in a wedding. For some reason the person was selling it as "vintage." That may be because it's a discontinued style. But it's definately up to date. It's even the Alfred Angelo brand! I'm very pleased. The only wear is some very very slight dirt under the arm pits. You have to look really hard to see it. It think it was probably a dress that girls tried on in a bridal shop. But it's absolutely beautiful. Just be careful with auctions that are from China or Japan. At least, I've heard that can be risky. There are definately plenty of nice "gently used" dresses on ebay. It's much better than buying a full price gown and no one will ever know! :)