How To Pay Monthly Credit Card Bills

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by aja8888 Yes, another incident at a restaurant, I suspect. We had a large party at Buca De Beppo for my DW and that was the only time my card left my hand in recent memory (paying the large bill). Next morning, the $0.10 charge appeared. I notified the store manager and he said he would look into it. Who knows....

I don't know if it helps us or not, but even though we eat at restaurants every day we always pay in cash and this includes a generous tip. The wait staff is so underpaid, that a credit card just seems like it could present too much temptation to some.

I guess that's always an option. It might be a little awkward when paying a large bill for a large party as in your situation, though.

[aja8888]

Quote:

Originally Posted by W2R I don't know if it helps us or not, but even though we eat at restaurants every day we always pay in cash and this includes a generous tip. The wait staff is so underpaid, that a credit card just seems like it could present too much temptation to some. I guess that's always an option. It might be a little awkward when paying a large bill for a large party as in your situation, though.

Yes, cash is the answer until the US gets wireless card readers. I also get restaurant gift cards and use those when paying the bill. For our birthday party, the bill was over $1K so the card was the only way I could handle it. Live and learn. Goes to show how much theft is going on.

[rodi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by aja8888 We are starting to get the cards (chip and signature, not pin yet), but most of the retailers have not put in the readers yet. And like Alan stated, they will certainly be slow with wireless card readers,

Upgrades are happening. I took my son to goodwill to supplement his back to school wardrobe and they had a shiny new chip card reader. She tried to swipe my card and the reader told her to insert it instead. I was only the second person she'd had to do the chip reading. But if goodwill can get chip card readers the trend is coming.

[Amethyst]

There are times when control-freakery is called for, and this is one of them!

It does take a bit of discipline to keep track of multiple "rewards" cards, that all have slightly different terms/billing cycles. I made a little chart that I consult every few days, to be sure I pay everything on time while meeting the various "rewards" terms. Between that, and periodically checking our balances on the various CC web sites, I've caught those sneaky $.10 "fraud" charges a couple of times, and once caught a large charge for air fare.

Quote:

Originally Posted by athena53 Yeah, I'm a control freak. We have 3 credit cards, all due within a week of each other.

[grasshopper]

We decided to try a new restaurant, TripAdvisor said the food was great, but pay cash folks are getting skimmed. Useful information for a change.

[kcowan]

In Milan we were at a sidewalk cafe that the tableside reader would not accept my PIN. Turned out that they needed a new battery for the terminal. But by then the bank had locked the card. Luckily my DW partner card still works.

My card is only useful for online and most hotel purchases.

[kcowan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Meadbh Around these parts I can also wave my credit card at the POS terminal for purchases less than $50, provided the retailer has the latest version. This does not make me feel more secure. A thief could wave my credit card just as well as I can.

I believe the limit is $100, at least at the liquor store. And the crooks can read the RFID chip through cloth. No need to wave it!