Phil Cook wrote:

> 
> You're guilty of being bizzarre, which if it were a crime would mean I  
> (and the vast majority) would be locked up with you.
> 

As you get older you get comfortable with it I guess.  Another 'buffer' 
situation for me involves the need to take a 'till' with me when I am 
driving the taxi.  When I first started I got caught unable to make 
change a couple of times.  This situation I found embarrassing even 
humiliating.  So I began to hoard 10's, 5's, and singles.  Now I have a 
'buffer' well in excess of 150 $10's, 200 $5's, and 500 singles, 
jacketed and hoarded away in a box.  I am finally comfortable and pay 
less attention to the problem and no longer aggressively hoard. For 
instance now at the end of a shift I will deposit my receipts across all 
denominations instead of just the $20's.  But the funny thing is, 
certain techniques and disciplines I developed during my hoarding phase 
became so integrated with my daily life that I continue them anyway.  In 
fact I now have to consciously 'prune' my hoard down from time to time.

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And lo on Fri, 08 Aug 2008 11:33:15 +0100, Jim Charter <jrc### [at] msncom>  
did spake, saying:

> Phil Cook wrote:
>
>>> Phil Cook wrote:
>
>>  But you're not getting any interest on this money, as Darren said if   
>> you're going to do this you might as well have a debit card which   
>> shouldn't have any fees at all and pays you interest for a positive   
>> balance.
>>
>
> Something to check into also.  I was under the impression they charged a  
> fee per use.  I do use it on occasion.  Never really confirmed if a fee  
> was charged.

The only time we in the UK tend to get charges is if we use our debit  
cards abroad, saying that though some banks are advertising the fact that  
they don't do this

>>  You're guilty of being bizzarre, which if it were a crime would mean  
>> I  (and the vast majority) would be locked up with you.
>
> As you get older you get comfortable with it I guess.  Another 'buffer'  
> situation for me involves the need to take a 'till' with me when I am  
> driving the taxi.  When I first started I got caught unable to make  
> change a couple of times.  This situation I found embarrassing even  
> humiliating.  So I began to hoard 10's, 5's, and singles.  Now I have a  
> 'buffer' well in excess of 150 $10's, 200 $5's, and 500 singles,  
> jacketed and hoarded away in a box.  I am finally comfortable and pay  
> less attention to the problem and no longer aggressively hoard. For  
> instance now at the end of a shift I will deposit my receipts across all  
> denominations instead of just the $20's.  But the funny thing is,  
> certain techniques and disciplines I developed during my hoarding phase  
> became so integrated with my daily life that I continue them anyway.  In  
> fact I now have to consciously 'prune' my hoard down from time to time.

Just the way we work; we do something out of neccesity, repeat it, and  
then find it turns to habit and we keep doing it long after the cause has  
passed. I suppose it's the potential in the neural pathways, just easier  
to follow the groove.

-- 
Phil Cook

--
I once tried to be apathetic, but I just couldn't be bothered
http://flipc.blogspot.com

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On Fri, 08 Aug 2008 00:12:48 +0100, St. wrote:

>      Heh, they did in our school: Beans on toast or cheese straws.
> 
>      ("Home Economics" was our cooking lessons which they don't have
>      now).

They did when I was in middle school as well (well, it wasn't called 
"middle school" when I went through it).  We had sewing and cooking 
classes.

Jim

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On Fri, 08 Aug 2008 09:16:30 +0100, Phil Cook wrote:

>> You can with some cards in the US as well.  We do autopay for nearly
>> everything (but we also look at the bills closely, too)
> 
> Well yeah, I don't understand people who don't bother.

I think it's a matter of trust - I can understand that.  It's also (for 
us) a matter of checking the bills out carefully before autopay goes 
through.  Some things, though, like the mortgage payment, we know the 
amount that it should be so if it varies that raises a red flag for us.  
(And it hasn't varied).

>> Got hung up *once* with this because the payment I put in ended up
>> being less than the minimum (had to get the brakes done on the car -
>> and we used the wrong card) and I got a call from their collections
>> department the *day* after the bill was due.  We got them to reverse
>> the late fee and reinstate the 0% transfer balance, but it was really
>> surprising they turned it over to collections so quickly.  Discover
>> Financial apparently is struggling.
> 
> Well the setup on my credit card is that the full amount is taken
> automatically unless I change it, but I could set it up to take the
> minimum only; again unless I change it. The only account I then have to
> monitor money-wise is my bank-account.

Yeah, if we were to do that, we'd bounce payments at the moment.  My 
parents worked things like you do, though - pay it off every month.  
AFAIK, my mom still does that.

>> (Of course you wouldn't know anything about them in the UK, since
>> virtually nobody accepts them over there)
> 
> Who now? :-) It's Visa and Mastercard here (for credit cards), unless
> it's somewhere fancy that'll accept Amex. Heh read a piece from Amex
> justifying their higher-then-others transaction charges, people with
> Amex spend more so you make more profit then the el-cheapo cards; to put
> it another way rich people use Amex so let them do so at your store. To
> put it yet another way if you see a store accepting Amex expect all the
> prices to be double :-P

Yeah, like I said. :-)

We did get an Amex card - I use it to the tune of a whopping $11.99 per 
month for a credit monitoring service (which is handy as well, because 
that tells me if anything hokey goes on in my accounts).  But the reason 
we got it was so we could establish some form of credit that would be 
accepted when we move to the UK.  Our Visa/Mastercard cards are usable 
over there, sure, but from the research my wife did, if we want to open a 
bank account, it's easier if we have an Amex account to show good payment 
history.  I don't recall all the details on why this worked better, 
though.

Jim

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Jim Henderson wrote:
> 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.

I'd recommend you check with a local Credit Union about getting a new 
card; those terms are horrible.

Alternatively, if you live in WA, OR, ID or CA you can get a card at 
Sterling Savings Bank with pretty good terms, as well.

...Chambers

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Darren New wrote:
> 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.

If you bring it to our bank, we'll ask you to take it somewhere else :) 
  Of the three banks I've worked at, two of them wouldn't ever accept a 
CC check.

...Chambers

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Darren New wrote:
> Jim Henderson wrote:
>> Well, with the debit card, you've got a PIN associated with it, so I 
>> don't quite understand the issue there.
> 
> Not the ones that work just like a credit card, AFAIK. In any case, the 
> legal system distinguishes.  If someone's going to steal money, I want 
> it to be the bank's money, with them proving I owe it to them, rather 
> than my money, with me proving to the bank they need to give it back.
> 

Just for the record, I help people with fraudulent use all the time, and 
at least the bank I work at is pretty good about giving people 
provisional credit*.  They'll usually get it in less than 48 hours.

*That is, we assume that when you fill out a fraud report you're telling 
the truth, so we deposit the missing money to your account.  Once we've 
finished our investigation, we either take the money back from you (if 
you were just trying to work the system), or pursue it from the 
criminals (if you were telling the truth).  In practice, the system 
works rather well.  The only people I've ever heard complain about it 
are the ones we proved were lying about the fraud.

...Chambers

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Chambers wrote:
> If you bring it to our bank, we'll ask you to take it somewhere else :) 
>  Of the three banks I've worked at, two of them wouldn't ever accept a 
> CC check.

No, of course not. For the same reason I won't accept a debit card from 
a bank that looks like a credit card. :-)

They're SOL if they take the "check" and then you reverse the charges.

-- 
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?

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On Fri, 08 Aug 2008 11:03:58 -0700, Chambers wrote:

> Jim Henderson wrote:
>> 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.
> 
> I'd recommend you check with a local Credit Union about getting a new
> card; those terms are horrible.
> 
> Alternatively, if you live in WA, OR, ID or CA you can get a card at
> Sterling Savings Bank with pretty good terms, as well.

Oh, I've got terms on other cards that are better.  We've more or less 
decided to transfer the balance when the next good offer comes along.

Jim

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St. wrote:
> I hope they never get rid of cash

I hope they *do*!  At least, I think we should do away with paper 
currency.  Use coins if you need to carry something around, but anything 
more than a few dollars should be electronic.

Of course, I also think commercial banks and the Federal Reserve should 
run 24/7 (and yes, I'm willing to work odd shifts due to that 
scheduling).  But for some reason, Bernanke hasn't called to ask my 
advice yet, so they're still on the 9-5 business day...

...Chambers

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