Debit cards: $50 spending limit coming?

[midlifebear]

In beautiful down town Wells, Nebada, (sorry, I've a bit of a cold today), ALL of the service stations stop pumping at $50. When was the last time you filled your truck or 'Mericuhn automobile for just $50? So, you put the hose back, press "Yes" for a receipt. When the receipt pops out you start the whole gas pumping process all over again. This includes AmEx, Visa, Matercard, all oil company, bank credit and debit cards. They've been doing this ever since diesel was $4.98 a gallon several years ago. It will probably go back up to $5 a gallon, or higher, this year too.

Y'all come to the "cross roads of the West" (Interstate 80 and Highway 93) to eat, gamble and just spend money. Everyone is welcome. :smile:

 

[Who_Dun_It]

As a cashier, I can tell that the reason possibly for this is that multiple transactions have to be approved, even with debit cards. Because, if you don't have the money in your account the bank will cover it one time, but charge you afterward and deduct it from your account after your next deposit.

Another problem would be if there is a limit on purchases made per day or per retailer, some banks will see that as a questionable transaction and block further use of a card until the card holder can get it taken off!

In beautiful down town Wells, Nebada, (sorry, I've a bit of a cold today), ALL of the service stations stop pumping at $50. When was the last time you filled your truck or 'Mericuhn automobile for just $50? So, you put the hose back, press "Yes" for a receipt. When the receipt pops out you start the whole gas pumping process all over again. This includes AmEx, Visa, Matercard, all oil company, bank credit and debit cards. They've been doing this ever since diesel was $4.98 a gallon several years ago. It will probably go back up to $5 a gallon, or higher, this year too.

Y'all come to the "cross roads of the West" (Interstate 80 and Highway 93) to eat, gamble and just spend money. Everyone is welcome. :smile:

That's why I always pay cash, and make sure I have the time to make two trips into the building if I have to prepay and still somehow have money left over when the tank if full.

 

[midlifebear]

That's why I always pay cash, and make sure I have the time to make two trips into the building if I have to prepay and still somehow have money left over when the tank if full.

Well, that's why three of the four gas stations/truck stops in Wells also have casinos. There's always an ATM machine (owned by the casino) that will give you up to a $200 cash advance plus charge you $5. We're nothing if not just out right friendly in the wild and woolly west. :smile:

 

[MASSIVEPKGO_CHUCK]

Another problem would be if there is a limit on purchases made per day or per retailer, some banks will see that as a questionable transaction and block further use of a card until the card holder can get it taken off!.

Well, that's why when within 24 hr period if a customer has made multiple transactions exceeding $500 or so, the cashier or HC(Head cashier to you!)
Has to verify the card holder's ID and call the CC company for authorization. No Verification, no transaction, Simple.

 

[vince]

VB, the article you linked to mentions banks are considering charging monthly fees for debit usage. Is that not the case now? With rare exception the banks in Canada already charge a monthly fee if you want unlimited debit card usage.

One thing no one has ever accused Canadian banks of, is not knowing how to squeeze every last drop of blood out of their customers.

Debit cards at my Turkish banks are unlimited and no charge. In fact the banks here are surprisingly advanced when it comes to customer service. I can wire transfer money to any account at any bank using the internet or a ATM or even my damn phone. I can't do that in Canada between banks. I can transfer money to people who don't even have an account. They just have to show up at the branch I direct the money to and show ID. Any transaction including SWIFT and IBAN transfers, opening accounts, bill payments, buying bonds, t-bills or stocks, insurance and so on, can be done online or from an ATM. I haven't set foot in a branch in over a year.

Charging for debit cards is another way big banks can profit from your money. They charge you for withdrawing your money, but one thing they'll never do is bring in a direct fee for making a deposit!

 

[1kmb1]

mastercard will lose money thanks to obama and may fire alot people that work for them in st. louis. obama dose not care about jobs.

going from 44 cents to 12 cents is going to hurt mastercard so thay are trying to cut there losess.

so basically our government is trying to protect small businesses from unfair fees, and still allow big banks to bring in billions?

why do you hate small businesses?

There's a way to sidestep the cap.
If a purchase comes to 99.00 and there's a 50.00 cap you should be able to split the payment into two separate debit transactions. The bank is none the wiser and the biggest problem is a slightly annoyed cashier.

Restaurants don't have a problem with using multiple cards to pay off a combined bill so I can't see why any other retailer would have a problem with it.

VB, the article you linked to mentions banks are considering charging monthly fees for debit usage. Is that not the case now? With rare exception the banks in Canada already charge a monthly fee if you want unlimited debit card usage.

thats what the banks want, that way they get to charge the store an interchange fee twice.

 

[rob_just_rob]

I've probably used a debit card a half dozen times in my life. Over $100, credit is just as easy to use, and usually comes with cash back, air miles, or something similar.

 

[FuzzyKen]

Personally I will not use regular banks. Many of these institutions have been able to buy rule changes in their favor for decades and this is one of the reasons we have the problems we have.

For years now I have exclusively used Credit Unions. They operate under very different sets of rules and they cost far less to use and serve far better. I have heard of some problem children in this regard, but I have had excellent service from the Credit Unions I have belonged to and I will never ever return to the lack of customer respect used in the conventional banking or savings and loan industry at this time.

Many of these same financial institutions considering this type of thing are the same ones who are playing many other games to increase their profits through questionable means.

I personally rarely use cash. I use a debit card and in fact no longer use credit cards the first to go were Chase and B of A. Pay off debt, cancel account, goodbye. The concept here is NOT to recover but to force people into use of Credit for the same purchases and it allows them to ding on that which is far more profitable. People with debit cards pay their bills in full at the time. No interest = no profit!

 

[Gillette]

Charging for debit cards is another way big banks can profit from your money. They charge you for withdrawing your money, but one thing they'll never do is bring in a direct fee for making a deposit!

Um, well...

Big retailers like chain drug stores, grocery stores and provincial liquor stores are ever so happy to offer you the option of cash advances with your purchase. Your purchase totals $29.99 but the debit transaction is processed as $99.99 and, voila!, you get $70.00 cash (as change) without having to visit an ATM or incur an additional transaction fee.

Seems like just good customer service but there's an additional benefit to the retailer in doing this.

Consider what these retailers have in common. They all do a large volume of small sales, sales small enough that they are often paid for with cash. Cash that has to be deposited. A little accounting bird told me that the banks are charging for large volume cash deposits so reducing the amount of cash sent to the bank actually saves the retailers money.

I couldn't find much info online but I did stumble upon this one.
BankingQuestions.com - Fee on Large Cash Deposits?

Heinous.

 

[nicenycdick]

This is so typical of large business groups. They give a service for nothing until it becomes commonplace. Then they start charging a small fee for the same service. And they all start doing it at the same time. I am not a conspiracy theorist as a rule, but it always amazes me that major business groups can continue to do things like this together without raising Price Fixing/Restraint of Trade objections from the Feds.

So...it is the same with debit cards. I remember when it was the exception to use a debit card. They pointed out then that there are no fees to do so, so we all started doing it instead of relying on our credit cards. Then, because the banks make very little on each debit transaction, they give you "cash back" for using your credit card instead. That clearly didn't give them enough of a return (since they were no longer getting their credit card merchant fees), so they are now attempting to limit the dollar amount for debit card use. This will increase transactional fees collected by the banks from the vendors by forcing multiple transactions.

It really sucks...

 

[midlifebear]

Even more amusing is the new practices Wells Fargo uses to deal with clients. They don't charge you to use their ATM/deposit automatic cashier outside of their physical banks. You just slip in your debit (now known as a bank card), punch in your PIN take out up to $500 for no fee and can deposit checks regardless whether they are hand written personal checks, your pay check, the National Publishers Clearing House Check -- all are welcome, electronically read and you're prompted to make sure the optical scan and amounts are correct, then the ATM/deposit automatic cashier spits a printed receipt at you. I'm sure many banks in the USA are converting to this system.

The real problem is if you need to speak or deal with a live, human cashier during banking hours -- for which they charge a $5 fee (unless you maintain a minimum of $25,000 in savings and $10,000 in checking at all times). Welcome to the 21at Century.

And if you are a preferred customer who maintains the required amounts in checking and savings, but never use the Wells Fargo Credit Card during the entire year, they charge you $29 at the end of the year just for the privilege of having the card, which they will not allow you to cancel because it is part of their "special" preferred customer package. Once again, welcome to the 21st Century.

 

[gamma475]

Sorry but all that is total BS. Makes no sense what so ever, especially capping a transaction.

Retailers pay a Higher fee on credit cards than they do debits anyway.

I agree with you! Maybe the upside, they'll lower all cell phone fees to below 50 if we can't swipe over!:tongue: