josephstern

Meaning you can say "5c off per gallon for cash" but not "$1.50 credit or $1.45 cash"? I guess I'm not understanding the subtlety.

josephstern

In fact, the wording is surprisingly soft:

So I'm surprised that I don't see cash discounts in my part of town, or, for that matter, discounts at any other merchants. If I'm about to pay for a new piece of furniture with Amex, shouldn't the vendor offer me 3% off to pay by cash? It's in their best interest - costs less, lower chance of fraud, no chance of chargeback, etc.

Happy

I dont say the credit card issuers are right. They are very wrong in many ways. However, it does not alter the fact that you are spending income that has not been received.

50% of cardholders pay in full each month.

Dont know if 80% of Americans live from paycheck to paycheck. Judging by the life style of living from paycheck to paycheck does not seem anything dangerous to you, then may be indeed this is the prevailing American Way. Little wonder when the credit is cut off, the country is in the soup.

soitgoes

But here's the rub: armored car services, risk of embezzlement, risk of theft, etc. aren't free either. There's a cost to accepting cash.

Happy

I am not sure you want what have happened in Australia. Now the merchants officially can and DO pass on the merchants fees (and padded it big) to customers if the customers choose to pay by credit cards.

Try to purchase a ticket on QF site and you will see, for a $110 ticket the CC fee is almost $8 bucks!

chemist661

If the credit card companies eliminated the grace period, the number of charges would be alot less. If I had to charge it, I would go online the same day and pay off the charge before any interest accumulates.

I do have several credit union MC/Visas and I don't forsee CU's eliminating grace periods.

I am one of those "deadbeats" that pay balances off every month.

josephstern

I'm in the same boat. In fact, I'd likely leaving money sitting there "on account" just to get the rewards.

But, in reality, so many fewer people would use the cards and that would cut into the interchange fees that are making these guys rich. I don't see it ever happening.

josephstern

So what's the alternative? ACH? For $8, I'd do ACH no problem.

zacktravel

Fact is Congress is in the hands of Left wing right now. There is no end to the stupidity of "tax the rich and give to the poor". It failed in Eastern Europe and it will fail here.

Bottom line, if I have no benefit of a CC, I will cancel it, the bank then gets no fees and they either go out of business or have less business. Who wins? No one. The CC issuer will employee less people so less jobs. I will pay everything with cash or checks, all I lose is a few miles. If congress wants to destroy the credit card system then this bill should become law.

As far as those of us who pay our bills getting a "free ride", well if I did a bad job of managing my credit, charged say $5000, and took years to pay it off, the bank gets no other fees from me. Even if say interest is 15% a year, they get something less than $750 in interest first year. The bank has borrowed that money from someone and has to pay them say 8%. This is unsecured debt! So the bank pays out $400. The bank's net intake is $350 at best!

If on the other hand, I charge $2000 a month and pay it off, the bank gets 3%, $60 of fees, every month, month after month. Even if they have a cost of borrowing say is 12%, or 1% a month (which is a lot less today) they still make more money from me in fees. $40 a month or $480 a year. AND they know I will pay it unlike those who don't!

josephstern

This sounds suspiciously familiar to the arguments against things like seat belts.

We should also get the FAA out of the air safety business. Let the flying public vote with their dollars. If too many planes crash, (living) people will stop flying that airline.

zacktravel

Guess what Einstein (or is it Karl Marx?)! Most school buses do not have seat belts! It does not make them less safe.

Curious_George

That's why I always tend to ask if they offer any cash discounts when making purchases over a couple hundred dollars at independent stores. About a quarter of the time they give a big enough discount to make it worthwhile (and the rest of the time I whip out my SPG Amex).

Happy

No alternative other than pay by a debit card issued by an Australia bank. You need to pass a 100 pts test in order to open an account with an Australian bank, IN PERSON, in Australia.

It is not just Australia.

Last year I bought tickets on ClickAir (Spainish LCC), the CC fee was like 5 or 7 Euros on 2 tickets worth 30 Euro each before small taxes.

The British Railway also charges CC fee when you purchase Rail tickets online.

kebosabi

If CC is to pass the charges onto me and cancelling benefits, heck I'm cancelling the card and just stick to paying all of my bills through my bank's online bill pay option. Why should people like me, who creates a spreadsheet of his expenses and responsibly pays off his cards every month (well, I pay it off on a weekly basis thanks to online banking, online billpay and online CC statements) be dinged for people who can't keep balance their checkbooks straight?

skofarrell

^^^^^