does anyone else rarely use cash anymore?

[TheKub]

Originally posted by: Capt Caveman

Yes b/c most times, you stay at your table while they walk away with your cc where they can imprint or write down your info without you watching them. At a supermarket/mall, you either swipe it yourself or the cashier is swiping it in front of you.

Yeah but if you even take a moment to look over your statement you will catch anything strange and most cards are 0 liability (most you can be held responsible for is $50 anyway).

 

[krunchykrome]

because why pay for things in cash when you can get cash-back/misc rewards for using plastic

 

[Aikouka]

I use a debit card for just about everything. I rarely carry cash on me except for buying lunch.

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

Originally posted by: Jeff7
I primarily use debit.

Cash gets used very rarely. I used it just last week for the first time in about 7 months.


I also use a check once a month to pay for rent.

And damn, $4k/month in expenses? :shocked:
*sigh*.....I could only hope to ever even earn that much.

mortgage, RE taxes, monthly maintenance fees, insurance make up well over half that.
the cost of living in NY metro

 

[AmpedSilence]

Originally posted by: darkxshade

Originally posted by: OdiN

Originally posted by: Random Variable
No wonder we're in so much debt as a country.

You're assuming that those using credit cards are not paying them off at the end of the month.

To play devils advocate, that's beside the point. Having a form of currency so readily available means you're more likely to overspend and ultimately going into debt. Before credit cards, if you didn't have the cash on hand, you didn't make the purchase. In today's world you're more likely to go into debt because that option is more available to you should you so choose to spend youself into oblivion.

Very true, there was a study that came out of McD's when they introduced CC to their stores. It showed that stores that had the ability to take CC, the customer ended up spending more on average than the store that took cash only. The amount was more than enough to off set the cost of taking card, the quickly expanded it to more stores.

 

[Jessica69]

Originally posted by: TheKub

Originally posted by: Capt Caveman

Yes b/c most times, you stay at your table while they walk away with your cc where they can imprint or write down your info without you watching them. At a supermarket/mall, you either swipe it yourself or the cashier is swiping it in front of you.

Yeah but if you even take a moment to look over your statement you will catch anything strange and most cards are 0 liability (most you can be held responsible for is $50 anyway).

While that is true about the zero liability, it's the hassle you go through that's just not worth the chance. A restaurant in Mass. is how our CC was hacked/stolen. Started seeing charges in Italy and Turkey on it....all done quickly and in a very short time. Thankfully, our CC company was watching, froze the card, called us and all the charges were negated.

Unfortunately, we didn't receive the call before the card was frozen and we, on the road at the time, tried to use the card and it was refused. Thankfully, we had another card and some cash on hand. (We don't keep a lot of CC's around......two for daily use, one for trips/business.)

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: BlahBlahYouToo
mortgage, RE taxes, monthly maintenance fees, insurance make up well over half that.
the cost of living in NY metro

Time to move!

$450/month + utilities gets me a 2 BR apartment, and in this building, it's effectively like renting a house to myself.
It just sucks in the winter, because the place is fairly old, and the concept of "insulation" apparently never occurred to the builders.

Within a year I'll be finished with college, and hopefully have a nice cushy engineering job somewhere.

 

[Xavier434]

Originally posted by: darkxshade

Originally posted by: halik

Originally posted by: Random Variable
No wonder we're in so much debt as a country.

Some of us can control our spending... :roll:


I use CC for 95% of all purchases, it pays me 1.x moth worth of interest plus points

That's the keyword there, to put it into perspective we can say, most of us can't control our spending.

The same kinds of people that are going into debt now were going into debt before CCs were so popular. It was not quite as easy but it still happened and it happened a lot. No matter how you slice it though, trying to convince people not to use CCs is a complete waste of time because that will never happen. What people who feel this way about CCs should be doing is pushing for the CC companies to not be so flexible when it comes to allowing those with no credit or bad credit to get cards with such a large available balance. Until that happens, nothing will change. In the mean time, those of us who are responsible with our CCs will continue to take advantage of them because it makes no sense not to do it.

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

Originally posted by: Jeff7

Originally posted by: BlahBlahYouToo
mortgage, RE taxes, monthly maintenance fees, insurance make up well over half that.
the cost of living in NY metro

Time to move!

$450/month + utilities gets me a 2 BR apartment, and in this building, it's effectively like renting a house to myself.
It just sucks in the winter, because the place is fairly old, and the concept of "insulation" apparently never occurred to the builders.

Within a year I'll be finished with college, and hopefully have a nice cushy engineering job somewhere.

easier said than done. not very easy to just pick up and leave everything behind.
plus if i move farther, then i'll deal with gas prices and more commute time.
it's awesome being 15 minutes away from midtown NYC by car, 30 minutes mass transit.

well, you're still in college where $20 is a lot of $.
a few years of working in the real world, and you'll spend $20 without even thinking about it.

 

[TheKub]

Originally posted by: Jessica69
While that is true about the zero liability, it's the hassle you go through that's just not worth the chance. A restaurant in Mass. is how our CC was hacked/stolen. Started seeing charges in Italy and Turkey on it....all done quickly and in a very short time. Thankfully, our CC company was watching, froze the card, called us and all the charges were negated.

Whats the hassle then? You didn't have to do anything, they caught the fraud and waved the charges. Obviously, having the card canceled during a trip could have been a minor inconvenience but could have been completely avoided with a second card. Most of my use is on AMEX but I have backup cards because some places don't accept AMEX.

I had a bad charge on my AMEX a few years ago. All I did was hit the button to dispute the charge told them that I couldn't have been in a service station in FL when my car and I were on Oahu. A week later I got a letter in the mail saying they are investigating and a week after that they said the charge was waved.

 

[darkxshade]

Originally posted by: Xavier434

Originally posted by: darkxshade

Originally posted by: halik

Originally posted by: Random Variable
No wonder we're in so much debt as a country.

Some of us can control our spending... :roll:


I use CC for 95% of all purchases, it pays me 1.x moth worth of interest plus points

That's the keyword there, to put it into perspective we can say, most of us can't control our spending.

The same kinds of people that are going into debt now were going into debt before CCs were so popular. It was not quite as easy but it still happened and it happened a lot. No matter how you slice it though, trying to convince people not to use CCs is a complete waste of time because that will never happen. What people who feel this way about CCs should be doing is pushing for the CC companies to not be so flexible when it comes to allowing those with no credit or bad credit to get cards with such a large available balance. Until that happens, nothing will change. In the mean time, those of us who are responsible with our CCs will continue to take advantage of them because it makes no sense not to do it.

I'm not trying to say we shouldn't use them. The fact is credit cards are great when used properly and in moderation. Sure people can go into debt without credit cards but when credit cards company offer cards to these people, that's just asking for it.

 

[Special K]

Originally posted by: Josh

Originally posted by: Injury
It's a mix. I put whatever I can on my CC and pay it off every month to earn rewards points. I get a nice check for about $500 once a year.
I just wish I could figure out a simple way to put my rent on my credit card... that'd be an extra $250 check per year.

Cash advance the credit card then pay for rent? Not sure what the interest rate on cash advance for you is though...might not be worth it.

I don't think cash advances earn rewards. Plus the interest begins to accrue immediately, so this option unfortunately won't work for paying rent with a CC.

 

[dirtylimey]

I only use cash for buying potentially stolen motorcycles.

 

[DisgruntledVirus]

Originally posted by: darkxshade
Cash accounts for 95% of my monthly expenses... hookers don't take Visa.

Mine do. I just slide it through their a$$. Other then getting some fecal matter on the card, it works quite well (and that they wipe off for me)

Originally posted by: BlahBlahYouToo

Originally posted by: KB
Credit Cards give rewards for buying stuff. What else could you want. I only pay cash at restaurants and for some low cost items.

why cash at restaurants?
i don't think i've paid cash at a restaurant since i got a cc.

Because servers get less from credit/debit transactions. You should leave a cash tip at minimum if possible (if I have cash on hand I will leave a cash tip 95% of the time, unless service sucks).

 

[Vehemence]

I use cash for places that only accept it (small food places, etc), vending machines, and tattoos since my artist prefers it. I almost never have cash in my wallet.

 

[EMPshockwave82]

Originally posted by: BlackTigers
i'm about 90% cash.

:0

this

 

[potato28]

Cash. I use my debit card too, but cash more.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Originally posted by: TheKub

Originally posted by: Jessica69
While that is true about the zero liability, it's the hassle you go through that's just not worth the chance. A restaurant in Mass. is how our CC was hacked/stolen. Started seeing charges in Italy and Turkey on it....all done quickly and in a very short time. Thankfully, our CC company was watching, froze the card, called us and all the charges were negated.

Whats the hassle then? You didn't have to do anything, they caught the fraud and waved the charges. Obviously, having the card canceled during a trip could have been a minor inconvenience but could have been completely avoided with a second card. Most of my use is on AMEX but I have backup cards because some places don't accept AMEX.

I had a bad charge on my AMEX a few years ago. All I did was hit the button to dispute the charge told them that I couldn't have been in a service station in FL when my car and I were on Oahu. A week later I got a letter in the mail saying they are investigating and a week after that they said the charge was waved.

The hassle? Having to have a new card issued(no use of that cc til you get the new one in the mail). You have to change any schedule transactions that you have on the canceled card to the new one. Update online bank information if you perform any online transactions. Etc.

 

[WA261]

I never use cash.

 

[oddyager]

Probably half and half. Groceries and gas I pay with cash. Most of everything else plastic.

 

[Brainonska511]

CC for almost everything - rewards/liability protection/extending warranties/etc. The only time I use cash is going out to a local restaurant with friends or paying for very small items (if I even have the cash on me).

 

[OCGuy]

Debit...whenever I grab $100 cash for the hell of it, its gone before I know it.

 

[Xavier434]

Originally posted by: darkxshade

Originally posted by: Xavier434
The same kinds of people that are going into debt now were going into debt before CCs were so popular. It was not quite as easy but it still happened and it happened a lot. No matter how you slice it though, trying to convince people not to use CCs is a complete waste of time because that will never happen. What people who feel this way about CCs should be doing is pushing for the CC companies to not be so flexible when it comes to allowing those with no credit or bad credit to get cards with such a large available balance. Until that happens, nothing will change. In the mean time, those of us who are responsible with our CCs will continue to take advantage of them because it makes no sense not to do it.

I'm not trying to say we shouldn't use them. The fact is credit cards are great when used properly and in moderation. Sure people can go into debt without credit cards but when credit cards company offer cards to these people, that's just asking for it.

I agree. I love using CCs and I am responsible with them, but CC companies are the devil without a doubt. There are few industries which are more cut throat than the CC industry.

 

[LS21]

i withdraw 100-200$ in spending cash per month

EVERYTHING else is done by CC, with payments made on-line through bank account


there have been a few situations though where i've been squeezed because of not carrying cash. usually because of dealing with government. f gubment

 

[alkemyst]

debit and cc almost exclusively.

Most cash payers fall in a few categories:

Deadbeats that can't get a bank account.

The asshats that like to show off $100 bills while trying to buy a $1 soda and then act like they are offended that the store won't accept anything over a $50.

The asshats that wait until the very end of a checkout only to hunt down various bills and coins in their pockets or purse.