On Wed, 06 Aug 2008 09:28:51 -0700, Darren New wrote:

> Sabrina Kilian wrote:
>> No, part of it comes from the fee they charge all merchants for the
>> 'privilege' of supporting their cards.
> 
> And part comes from the interest they charge you for not paying off the
> card before the end of the grace period. Personally, I've never had a
> problem with "scams" because I follow the contract and pay things off.
> Most of the complaints you read are along the lines of "I borrowed money
> and didn't pay back the minimum, so they increased my rates, whaaa
> whaaa!"

One of the nastier things they have started doing is sending out these 
"convenience cheques" with low interest rates.  You have to read the fine 
print to see what the % is they're charging for the use of the cheque, 
but even more insidious is that on some (Discover has done this) they 
require you use the card 2 times a month to keep the lower rate, but the 
payments you make go against the lowest interest rate first.

So, for example, on one of my Discover cards (don't ask - long story), 
I've got a 0% transfer rate, but I have to use the card twice a month to 
keep the 0% rate on what was transferred.  But I get hit at something 
like 14% on those two usages, and those two usages continue to accrue 
interest until the 0% amount is paid off.

Fortunately, my two uses a month tend to be < $5 each (for buying lunch 
in the office cafeteria), so they're not making a ton off of me for 
that.  But you have to manage it carefully and remember not to charge a 
couple hundred bucks on it.

Jim

Post a reply to this message

Tom Austin wrote:
> One better - some cards allow automatic payment of the balance - tied to 
> a bank account of course.
> 
> So now vacation and emergencies don't catch you off guard.
> 
> 
> 
> Tom

Big emergencies still will. Have you seen what some banks charge if you 
drop below a certain amount or, worse, over draw the account?

Post a reply to this message

Jim Henderson wrote:
> One of the nastier things they have started doing is sending out these 
> "convenience cheques" with low interest rates.

Yeah. I always call them up and tell them to either stop sending me 
those checks or cancel my card. Surprisingly, the checks stop. Of 
course, I'm a pretty good customer, so...

It helps to hold the same card for 20+ years and have good credit to 
start with. Otherwise, it's hard to bargain from power.

I always liked the ads that come with those checks: "Cash some in and 
spend it on fun stuff, or pay off bills, or just put it in the bank for 
a rainy day!"  Yeah, right.


-- 
Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
  Ever notice how people in a zombie movie never already know how to
  kill zombies? Ask 100 random people in America how to kill someone
  who has reanimated from the dead in a secret viral weapons lab,
  and how many do you think already know you need a head-shot?

Post a reply to this message

On Wed, 06 Aug 2008 12:33:17 -0700, Darren New wrote:

> Jim Henderson wrote:
>> One of the nastier things they have started doing is sending out these
>> "convenience cheques" with low interest rates.
> 
> Yeah. I always call them up and tell them to either stop sending me
> those checks or cancel my card. Surprisingly, the checks stop. Of
> course, I'm a pretty good customer, so...

I should try that.  Thing is, when juggling balances between cards (had 
some expenses that couldn't be avoided), they do come in handy when 
there's no "you must use the card x times a month to keep the rate".

> It helps to hold the same card for 20+ years and have good credit to
> start with. Otherwise, it's hard to bargain from power.

Yep.  I struggled with credit about 8 years ago, so we've finally gotten 
on top of it now and our credit is good.  The reason for *multiple* 
discover cards was the 0% offer came with a new card only - they wouldn't 
apply it to the old card, but they *also* wouldn't extend the old card's 
credit or set my "member since" date to the earlier of the two dates.  So 
I keep the one card locked in the safe and just never use it.  Every 
couple of years I get a new one and activate it and they ask why I don't 
use it, and I tell them that it's just so I have an account that goes 
back to that original start date.

The thing that bugs me about those cheques the most, of course, is they 
sit in my mailbox.  Nothing like having blank cheques sitting someplace 
where someone can come by and steal them - great way to "prevent" fraud, 
innit?

> I always liked the ads that come with those checks: "Cash some in and
> spend it on fun stuff, or pay off bills, or just put it in the bank for
> a rainy day!"  Yeah, right.

Yeah, that's really creative.  I've gotten in the habit of reading *all* 
the fine print and learning to understand it.  Of course, the easiest 
rule of thumb is "if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is".  
It's amazing more people don't understand that.

Jim

Post a reply to this message

Jim Henderson wrote:
> but they *also* wouldn't extend the old card's 
> credit or set my "member since" date to the earlier of the two dates.

It took me three phone calls to get the card to have the member-since 
date of before MBNA got aquired, yes. :-)

> The thing that bugs me about those cheques the most, of course, is they 
> sit in my mailbox.  Nothing like having blank cheques sitting someplace 
> where someone can come by and steal them - great way to "prevent" fraud, 
> innit?

That's why I call up and complain about it, and threaten to cancel if 
they send me more.

I also don't use debit cards, for similar reasons.

> It's amazing more people don't understand that.

Yep.

-- 
Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
  Ever notice how people in a zombie movie never already know how to
  kill zombies? Ask 100 random people in America how to kill someone
  who has reanimated from the dead in a secret viral weapons lab,
  and how many do you think already know you need a head-shot?

Post a reply to this message

On Wed, 06 Aug 2008 13:22:59 -0700, Darren New wrote:

> Jim Henderson wrote:
>> but they *also* wouldn't extend the old card's credit or set my "member
>> since" date to the earlier of the two dates.
> 
> It took me three phone calls to get the card to have the member-since
> date of before MBNA got aquired, yes. :-)

I decided it was easier not to bother.  It's not like I've got zero 
credit available, so the difference in having the limits split between 
two cards and on one card just means that I don't use that card as much, 
since the point of the one with the earlier date is to just sit in the 
safe. :-)

>> The thing that bugs me about those cheques the most, of course, is they
>> sit in my mailbox.  Nothing like having blank cheques sitting someplace
>> where someone can come by and steal them - great way to "prevent"
>> fraud, innit?
> 
> That's why I call up and complain about it, and threaten to cancel if
> they send me more.

Yeah, once I get my balances down a bit, I can make that kind of threat.  
We did actually manage to get 0 balances on nearly everything (except the 
home equity line of credit, but that's a different story anyways), but 
then had some major car work that needed done.  That's always the way I 
*intend* to use the credit cards - just for emergency backup.  It rarely 
works out that way.

> I also don't use debit cards, for similar reasons.

Well, with the debit card, you've got a PIN associated with it, so I 
don't quite understand the issue there.  Of late, I've preferred to use 
the debit card over a credit card just because I know I'm not going to 
have to reconcile accounts later.

Jim

Post a reply to this message

"Jim Henderson" <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote in message 
news:489a02ec$1@news.povray.org...

> The thing that bugs me about those cheques the most, of course, is they
> sit in my mailbox.  Nothing like having blank cheques sitting someplace
> where someone can come by and steal them - great way to "prevent" fraud,
> innit?

  After following this thread Jim, I've had quite a hard time comprehending 
that they, (the bank(s)), "send you a cheque". I mean, I've always 
understood that you can even *draw* a cheque on the side of some live beef 
stock if you want, and as long as it's accepted by the recipient, the bank 
will accept it as a genuine cheque. But they're sending blank cheques 
through email??

   To me, that sounds desperate.

    ~Steve~




> Jim

Post a reply to this message

On Wed, 06 Aug 2008 22:38:26 +0100, St. wrote:

> "Jim Henderson" <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote in message
> news:489a02ec$1@news.povray.org...
> 
>> The thing that bugs me about those cheques the most, of course, is they
>> sit in my mailbox.  Nothing like having blank cheques sitting someplace
>> where someone can come by and steal them - great way to "prevent"
>> fraud, innit?
> 
>   After following this thread Jim, I've had quite a hard time
>   comprehending
> that they, (the bank(s)), "send you a cheque". I mean, I've always
> understood that you can even *draw* a cheque on the side of some live
> beef stock if you want, and as long as it's accepted by the recipient,
> the bank will accept it as a genuine cheque. But they're sending blank
> cheques through email??

Not via e-mail.... ;-)

But of course, you're using a different meaning for "cheque" than I am - 
from the OED, though:

"Cheque is a differentiated spelling of check, which is also in use, 
especially in U.S."

:-)

Jim

Post a reply to this message

On Wed, 06 Aug 2008 18:00:35 -0400, Jim Henderson wrote:

> On Wed, 06 Aug 2008 22:38:26 +0100, St. wrote:
> 
>> "Jim Henderson" <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote in message
>> news:489a02ec$1@news.povray.org...
>> 
>>> The thing that bugs me about those cheques the most, of course, is
>>> they sit in my mailbox.  Nothing like having blank cheques sitting
>>> someplace where someone can come by and steal them - great way to
>>> "prevent" fraud, innit?
>> 
>>   After following this thread Jim, I've had quite a hard time
>>   comprehending
>> that they, (the bank(s)), "send you a cheque". I mean, I've always
>> understood that you can even *draw* a cheque on the side of some live
>> beef stock if you want, and as long as it's accepted by the recipient,
>> the bank will accept it as a genuine cheque. But they're sending blank
>> cheques through email??
> 
> Not via e-mail.... ;-)
> 
> But of course, you're using a different meaning for "cheque" than I am -

...or maybe not, now that I reread it.

But yeah, the credit card companies have started sending this out as a 
way to allow you to draw on your credit line; usually they have some sort 
of special promotional interest rate associated with them.

The one that *really* bothers me, though, is when they pre-fill the 
dollar amounts in.

Jim

Post a reply to this message

"Jim Henderson" <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote in message 
news:489a1f75$1@news.povray.org...
> On Wed, 06 Aug 2008 18:00:35 -0400, Jim Henderson wrote:
>
>> On Wed, 06 Aug 2008 22:38:26 +0100, St. wrote:
>>
>>> "Jim Henderson" <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote in message
>>> news:489a02ec$1@news.povray.org...
>>>
>>>> The thing that bugs me about those cheques the most, of course, is
>>>> they sit in my mailbox.  Nothing like having blank cheques sitting
>>>> someplace where someone can come by and steal them - great way to
>>>> "prevent" fraud, innit?
>>>
>>>   After following this thread Jim, I've had quite a hard time
>>>   comprehending
>>> that they, (the bank(s)), "send you a cheque". I mean, I've always
>>> understood that you can even *draw* a cheque on the side of some live
>>> beef stock if you want, and as long as it's accepted by the recipient,
>>> the bank will accept it as a genuine cheque. But they're sending blank
>>> cheques through email??
>>
>> Not via e-mail.... ;-)
>>
>> But of course, you're using a different meaning for "cheque" than I am -
>
> ...or maybe not, now that I reread it.

     Ah, no probs mate, it was the 'mailbox' word that made me think that.


>
> But yeah, the credit card companies have started sending this out as a
> way to allow you to draw on your credit line; usually they have some sort
> of special promotional interest rate associated with them.

     Oh, I get those almost five days a week from differing banks than my 

days living on the street and such, I've learnt the value of money I think, 
(but I've got some heavy sh*t going on at the moment - damned inland 
revenue!)

   I use a debit card only and will never have a credit card.


>
> The one that *really* bothers me, though, is when they pre-fill the
> dollar amounts in.

 Yes, it is tempting, but with the way the world is working now, you'd be 
foolish to use any credit unless you can pay it in time. I pity young home 
buyers. It just isn't going to happen the way it did a few years ago for 
them.

   ~Steve~


>
> Jim

Post a reply to this message