The Durbin ammendment (to Dodd Frank) eliminated a lot of abusive practices, including most reordering schemes. And check processing was accelerated by the Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act (Check 21). But the debit card is still the primary driver of branch revenue for banks, and a serious cost for customers.

The Durbin ammendment (to Dodd Frank) eliminated a lot of abusive practices, including most reordering schemes. And check processing was accelerated by the Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act (Check 21). But the debit card is still the primary driver of branch revenue for banks, and a serious cost for customers.

I have no problem paying for convenience.

And you are one of the bank's best customers.

Neither do most poor people, the difference is : you can afford it and understand it's a choice you can make .

Poor people typically don't understand how money works very well and so get trapped in a life time cycle of poverty .

__________________
-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

True 'dat. My mother often said that her in-laws had the "Putzer poverty gene," because of all the bone-head financial decisions they'd make.

Frau Putzer was muttling along financially when we got married, and that was despite having almost a six-figure income from overtime.

Managing your finances isn't that hard. The two big things are to know how much money comes in and goes out, and making a commitment to yourself and your family that what comes in is consistently greater than what goes out.

A good metric is one's outgo/income ratio. Before marriage, I was at about 50%. Frau Putzer was at about 99%. It took some knock-down, drag-out fights to get it to a reasonable 80% after we got married.

And that's the average American's problem in a nut shell : they want, endlessly......

If more were forced to live within their means growing up there would be far less poverty and misery .

Home Economics should be a mandatory high school class, it'd $ave all of us serious $ but then the banks and 1%'ers wouldn't have their hands in so many pockets .

__________________
-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

For the life of me I don’t see why anyone would choose to use a debit card over a cash back credit card.

Poor credit, lack of impulse control, poor bill paying habits, and... ‘it comes with your account’. In an age where cash is disappearing, imagine how it would feel to not have plastic in your pocket. Debit cards solve this inadequacy for many. Even for the ‘unbanked’, there are prepaid cards. And then some just don’t bother thinking about it. There are a lot of reasons people become the bank’s best customer.

I said “choose” not “had no better option”. People still choose it.

I certainly didn't choose the damn thing, they forced it upon me and flat refuse to change it back .

I'm always worried someone will steal / hack it end empty my checking account.....

Easy to do, you just make lots and lots of under $40 purchases.....

__________________
-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

Some banks have stopped offering plain ATM cards, but you always have the choice of never using it to make purchases. Make sure you opt out of debit card overdraft protection. Otherwise, they can empty your account and leave you with considerable debt besides. The bank MUST allow you to opt out of overdraft, but bankers aren't always forthcoming with that paperwork. There is protection against fraudulent debit card use, but how much you recover depends on how quickly you report the theft.

Thanx ! .

__________________
-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

It is what it is. If I think something is too much, I don’t buy it. If I agree to the price, what difference does it make as to what part is taxes and what part not?

I use multiple accounts and multiple banks. some accounts have almost no money in them until I add it before use. No overdraft. limits your exposure. credit cards have better fraud protections, because - hey! they can't just take your money and you have to fight to get it back.