Posted on 03/10/2011 1:08:35 PM PST by Whenifhow
.....Your debit card may soon be denied for purchases greater than $100 -- or even as little as $50. JPMorgan Chase, one of the nation's largest banks, is considering capping debit card transactions at either $50 or $100, according to a source with knowledge of the proposal. Why? Because of a tricky thing called interchange fees. Right now, every time you swipe your debit card, your bank charges the retailer an average fee of 44 cents, which it shares with its partners. ....
And consumers would end up feeling the pain when Bank of America is forced to recoup costs "by increasing the cost of their everyday debit card transactions, limiting their payment choices, and impacting industry innovation," ..... Aside from mulling over a limit on transaction amounts, Chase is already testing $3 monthly fees on debit cards and $15 fees on checking accounts in certain states.
....
So with the Fed's proposed cap in place, banks argue they won't have the money to protect themselves against fraud. And, of course, the bigger the purchase the bigger the risk, so banks are considering limiting consumers' ability to pay by debit card.
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But a Bank of America spokesman declined to comment on whether the bank would cap debit card purchases at $50 or $100.
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If a cap like this does make its way into accounts across the board, consumers would be forced to write checks, withdraw cash from ATMs, or put their spending on credit cards. "The whole model on the debit card side is in flux because of Dodd-Frank," said Brian Riley, senior research director at financial services consulting firm TowerGroup.
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Bank of America, for example, announced a $59 annual fee last month for its riskiest customers -- making up about 5% of consumer credit card accounts.
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
Try making a big purchase with cash (and not looking Hispanic). Cops get called. Happened to guy I used to work with when he tried to pay cash on a house (not a check, cash).
I think this is absolutely fantastic. Get people used to using cash again.
you can do that? I have only used mine as a debit card.
I just whip out my American Express card. No need to expose my bank account! Why use debit cards when there are credit cards?
“Now it will have to be $100 to fill the tank.” How big is your baby tank? My Dodge Rams tank is 35 Gallons and you can get them with twin tanks. Poor truckers with 200 and 400 gallon tanks, talk about an arm and a leg.
That's being foolish. Who buys a house with cash, even if you have that much available? I'm sure you can come up with some rare and/or extreme situations where using cash is a problem but 99% of the time, it isn't, at least not in my experience. On the rare occasion that I employ it, I use my debit card as a credit card (no PIN # needed) and for situations where using cash is not feasible, such as making a hotel reservation, car rental, a large purchase (that would be over $200., in my world) or, obviously, an internet purchase (rare, for me) I use the debit-as-credit card or one of my other Visa/MC credit cards. My point is that one can avoid a lot of the bank hassles by simply using cash, something most businesses are happy to receive. As you've pointed out, there are exceptions (aren't there always?) but, again, in my experience, when buying something, from a cup of coffee to a weeks worth of groceries, cash is welcomed as payment.
That is how I use it..
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