(Just a mini-rant.) I’m a bit confused and annoyed by the differences in using an ATM card, versus using a credit card, when making a purchase. I like the idea of not having to use cash, but…
When I use a credit card, the merchant pays something like 1% to 3% of the transaction, in some cases as high as 5% I believe. Doesn’t seem like much, but merchant margin are pretty thin as it is, and they shouldn’t be penalized for accepting forms of payment (IMO). And there’s not much security at all; the card is (usually) run to see if there’s credit in the account, and a signature is somehow stored (which basically is me agreeing to the contract to pay the merchant). If the card is stolen, I’m responsible for only the first $50, usually, and sometimes even that is waived. The debt is added to my credit card, the card company gets to collect interest, especially if I don’t pay right away, so they’d really like me to spend spend spend, as well as to encourage all merchants to accept their cards.
When I use a debit card, I usually pay a transaction fee between 25 cents and a dollar (in some cases higher). Why am I paying to buy something? The security is an ATM code, which seems good but I’m concerned about shoulder surfers; apparently if it’s stolen I may be responsible for more of the amount taken. The money comes directly out of my checking account, which is good except it means I really should keep track of every transaction so my checking account doesn’t get unbalanced. The bank doesn’t get any interest; it would like me generally not to be spending the money I’ve got in my account since that’s how they’re supposed to make theirs.
I suppose I think all these transactions should be service-charge-free. The banks and especially the credit card companies will extract their pound of flesh without having to ding every transaction. And there should be some better form of security, but I can’t imagine what it would be till we have biometrics all over the place. Challenge-response smart cards?
Speaking of which, I’m still annoyed that checking bank statements don’t track the name of the payee on every check (I can see the check, but they don’t have the name of the payee) and the name of the payor for every deposit. Shouldn’t this be part of their data?