What do you think is the best form of currency? You may only pick one option in the poll.



Careful with what you pick though - before this morning I would have said something entirely different...

Ant

As Yogi Berra would say,

"Cash... which is almost as good as money"

;D

I'm one of the 'old school' spenders...cash!

I can't quite get my head around someone buying a morning paper with a card! This does happen!  ???

I too am old school and chose cash....(and I pressed the poll submit button) ;)

I said cash.

There is almost nothing you can't accomplish with cash in hand. ;)

I voted for other:  Debit Card. 
I only ever carry cash on me because the cafeteria at work only accepts cash.  For everything else, there's debit card

What if you lose your wallet, or you get robbed?  You can't cancel cash, but you can cancel a card

I voted for other:  Debit Card. 
I only ever carry cash on me because the cafeteria at work only accepts cash.  For everything else, there's debit card

What if you lose your wallet, or you get robbed?  You can't cancel cash, but you can cancel a card


Debit?  They charge you a fee everytime you use it, you pay them to spend money.  At sometime I am sure we will be a cashless society, until then cash in hand.

Debit Card...I don't get charged any fees when I use mine. 

I have a good enough credit rating that companies line up for me to spend their money and my banks charge me no fees to use any cards, regardless of this, cash is the best form of currency. It is much harder to trace (both earning and spending) and frankly, cold hard cash says a lot more than a little piece of plastic ever can.

Unless of course you have an Amex Black card... but then you're just a snob.

Cash.  Some retailers make it a point to rip off people's debit.

I always prefer cash, although we mainly use our credit cards and then pay off the balances so we don't get slapped with finance charges.

I rarely use my debit card, although I also have to chime in and say I don't incur any fees on the rare occasions when I do use it  Is that a regional thing? ???

Circumstances alter cases..

Cash for some things, but it's far more convenient to carry a card most of the time.

Cheques for school

PayPal for eBay :)

I rarely use my debit card, although I also have to chime in and say I don't incur any fees on the rare occasions when I do use it  Is that a regional thing? ???


Debit cards usually do not charge the account holder anything.

But the MERCHANT ends up paying like a 2% surcharge and that is how the debit card companies make their money and give you "awards".

Whenever I am dealing with a local merchant I always pay cash.  I'd rather put the money in their pocket than some gigantic bank's.  :P

Debit cards usually do not charge the account holder anything.

But the MERCHANT ends up paying like a 2% surcharge and that is how the debit card companies make their money and give you "awards".
I didn't think debit cards did cost the merchant anything - I know credit cards do, but they have to cover the cost of credit for those users who pay off their balance every month and don't pay interest.

Debit cards usually do not charge the account holder anything.

But the MERCHANT ends up paying like a 2% surcharge and that is how the debit card companies make their money and give you "awards".

Whenever I am dealing with a local merchant I always pay cash.  I'd rather put the money in their pocket than some gigantic bank's.  :P


Eeek.  No wonder a lot of local places around here don't take credit cards.


I know credit cards do, but they have to cover the cost of credit for those users who pay off their balance every month and don't pay interest.


*looks guilty*

;D

I didn't think debit cards did cost the merchant anything - I know credit cards do, but they have to cover the cost of credit for those users who pay off their balance every month and don't pay interest.


Actually either a debit or credit transaction cost the merchant, although my understanding is that the credit transaction costs them more.

My motto is: Have plastic will travel.

I confess, I use my credit cards more than I ought to (yes, I pay them off EVERY month). I buy on-line more than not and it is so convenient to use plastic. 

I have a problem with I use cash (either dollars or coins)-being a coin collector, I want to keep every coin I see-and I also collect paper money, too but on a smaller scale.  :-[ 



Cat

For now, cash:

It costs you the same amount either way, but with cash, the merchant gets the full 100% of your price paid, rather than handing 1-3% to the credit card processor.  For some merchants, I don't much care.  For other merchants, such as that guy who stocks 300 types of beers I've never heard of, the guy who runs his shop's BBQ smoker 24 hours a day, the place that uses fresh-crushed cloves on its Chicago-style pie, and that bakery with the killer cupcakes made fresh every day, all of whom might be hanging on by a thread, it's important to me that they get the full dollar amount of my purchase.  In retail, every percentage point of margin counts.

A fringe benefit of cash is its relative anonymity.  Should you ever find yourself needing a liver transplant, coronary bypass, or insulin for your adult-onset diabetes, you might actually be able to get the insurance company to cover it.  Unless, of course, your credit card purchasing habits show a history of visits to a liquor store, BBQ place or pizzeria, and the local bakery.  There'd be no evidence in the system that the food in question was actually being split amongst your officemates.  The credit card purchase records would merely establish that you had a 48-beers-a-week, 1000-calories-of-fat, 1000-calories-of-sugar-a-day habit, and that's all the data they'd have. 

For the long term, hard currency:

"Paper is a mortgage on wealth that does not exist, backed by a gun aimed at those who are expected to produce it. Paper is a check drawn by legal looters upon an account which is not theirs: upon the virtue of the victims. Watch for the day when it bounces, marked, 'Account overdrawn.'"
  - Francisco's Money Speech, Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged, 1957.

It's been a year since people almost stopped believing the spell.  Fortunately for all of us, some powerful magicians fixed that before it was too late.  But they didn't change the fact that the green bits of paper that I use on a daily basis are backed by nothing more than a magickal spell that's caused other people to think the green bits of paper are actually worth something.  As long as everyone continues to believe they're actually worth something, I'll continue to trade my labor for them, and the bits of paper for tasty food and toys that go "bleep" or "vroom!".  But some of the bits of paper get traded for bits of shiny metals, because deep down inside, we're all just domesticated primates, and we've enjoyed shiny things since thousands of years before we developed writing.

Missing a major one. . .debit cards, which are just as good as cash but come with the safety that credit cards offer (plus most have major credit card companies on them to where you can use them as credit cards)

I've never heard of a debit card that has fees for basic use, I think you may be referring to pre-paid credit cards

Missing a major one. . .debit cards, which are just as good as cash but come with the safety that credit cards offer (plus most have major credit card companies on them to where you can use them as credit cards)


*blink*

If you're in the United States, you've got it dead-wrong-backwards.  The laws on debit cards vs. credit cards are very clear: users of credit cards are overwhelmingly more protected against fraud compared to users of debit cards.

For credit cards, EFTA (Electronic Funds Transfer Act) is still federal law, and it says point blank (section 909) that if a credit card is stolen, you're only on the hook for the first $50, unless you ignore it for 30 days -- and you're guaranteed to get a statement every 30 days.  And if worst comes to worst (you were on a trip around the world), the most you could lose is up to your credit limit.

If your debit card is stolen, in all practical circumstances, you're liable for at least $500, and up to every dollar they can withdraw from the ATM, and every check they can cash.  If you're not checking your bank account daily, that could include your entire account.  Every penny, plus overdraft charges on all of your own checks, which will all bounce after the thieves have drained your account of money.  Even if you get the bank to reimburse you for the money the thieves stole, your bank can (and probably will) still charge you for those bounced checks.

With a credit card, you're disputing whether you owe the bank a certain amount.  With a debit card, you're trying to retrieve money that's already gone.

Debit cards are as convenient as credit cards, but they offer materially less protection than credit cards.  I've never used one, nor will I.  I've even jumped through hoops with my bank to ensure that my ATM card cannot be used as a debit card.  The legal protections for users of debit cards are so weak that I've gone out of my way to ensure that I don't own one, even by accident. 

Disclaimer:  The preceding rant applies to the US.  Other countries' laws on electronic funds transfer and/or credit may vary.

Good old cash.

I selected other: debit card because I can keep track of my spending without the interest and I don't usually pay a fee.
My second choice would be cash.

Cash.  Some retailers make it a point to rip off people's debit.


Some do.  Around here, Dominos Pizza now charges $1.50 to use your debit card.  Most stores will charge a fee if your purchase is less than $5.  It's getting so that I am thinking of using good ol' cash, but with all the pickpockets and theft in the world today, it's not even safe to leave the house anymore :-\\