The Glade 4.0

New laws are going to be changing how much banks can charge merchants for using your credit and debit cards. The result of these new laws are likely to mean increases in fees paid by the consumer, including $5 (or more) ATM fees, and possibly putting max purchase limits on Debit cards.

A couple of articles from CNN/Money

$50 Debit Card Limits possible?
http://money.cnn.com/2011/03/10/pf/debi ... htm?iid=EL

$5 ATM fees coming?
http://money.cnn.com/2011/03/16/pf/atm_fees/index.htm

Banks know this is going to cost them a fortune, and they are already testing ways to get their money back.

Personally I don't care much about the $5 fees. I rarely use them, and when I do, my bank refunds them (of course this could change).

However, the $50 (or any) limit on the debit card thing could be painful.

If I have to start carrying around cash, I'm going to be pissed.

huh... Chase may be getting told to lick something tender on my anatomy soon...

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Darksiege
Traveller, Calé, Whisperer
Lead me not into temptation; for I know a shortcut

It won't just be Chase. Chase just has the resources to run these tests in advance. Once they start with their changes, others will follow.

It's going to probably come down to just accepting that consumers are going to have to accept these fees (we paid them anyway, indirectly through merchants).

I understand it will not be only Chase, but with Chase being at the front of this movement... I feel it would be within my best interests to no longer provide them with my business.

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Darksiege
Traveller, Calé, Whisperer
Lead me not into temptation; for I know a shortcut

+1

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The hard part for me will be online purchases.

I actually have no credit card (I've bought a few things with credit over the year to help my rating, but otherwise...) so a max cap of $50 would be huge. My wife has one that we occasionally use with (I think) a $4k limit... But I'd really prefer to stay away from credit card use.

Chase is also running a test with a monthly charge to use a debit card (~$3 is what I remember) which I would much prefer.

I quite frequently use my debit card for things over $50.

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Darksiege: You are not a god damned vulcan homie.

Id have to start writing checks to pay my bills. I though they wanted me to use my card and not write checks.

I think I need to call chase and voice my disapproval.

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I prefer to think of them as "Fighting evil in another dimension"

Mentioned along with this was a $15 checking account fee, from what I recall.

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Darksiege: You are not a god damned vulcan homie.

There are too many places that no longer accept checks. I can't see the $50 debit limit going through.

I can see a flat monthly fee for debit card usage, and higher ATM fees, but I think most of this is just banks doing what corporations usually do in the face of imposing legislation: making waves with unattractive demands and ridiculous impositions on the consumer, so that the consumer gets motivated and complains, thus hopefully stemming the legislation.

I was going to suggest that complaining to the banks isn't really going to help. They have to find a way to get their money back.

Complain to your local law makers if you are looking for the source of the problem.

WTF. I regularly make purchases with my debit card well into the thousands. Record so far is $12k.

I never carry cash, and my credit union is not close, so I always have to pay ATM fees.

Hopefully my credit union won't do this.

I used to make all my purchases with my debit card; even bought my Jeep with it 12 years ago (still going strong!) and Schwab refunds all ATM fees.
Now I use Chase or AMEX for the thirty day float and cash back, as well as better perks on refunds/returns and fraud.

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"Dress cops up as soldiers, give them military equipment, train them in military tactics, tell them they’re fighting a ‘war,’ and the consequences are predictable." —Radley Balko

Yeah, I keep hearing I'm leaving money on the table by not using a credit card.

Still, I'm a bit gun shy. I haven't had a credit card since I got out of college. I survived on my cards in college, even put tuition on them one semester. It was worth it in the long run, but I still hate them.

Credit cards are great until you get a $70 late fee that never made sense, or if the automatic online payment randomly decides to stop working.

I use my CC as much as possible, but treat is as a Debit Card. I only buy stuff I actually have money for, and pay off the balance each month. Seems to work well for my situation, I earn rewards points through my bank that I can turn into stuff like gift certificates for travel and electronics, and it helps build my credit rating.

$50 isn't even a single tank of gas at today's prices. I don't use the ATM, I use my debit card and keep an eye on my balance. I do not like carrying cash around, because I spend it, nickle and diming any cash I have into oblivion. Not happy at this prospect.

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Women are from Hoboken, men are from Trenton. ~ Jimmy Kimmel

+1

+2

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Some of the gas stations here in Vegas already have an issue where they automatically cut off at $50.00, and if you need more you need to run a second transaction. It is BS and a scam, so I avoid these locations, but it does happen.

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Darksiege
Traveller, Calé, Whisperer
Lead me not into temptation; for I know a shortcut

Wait until people start getting nailed by RICO laws going to drop 40k in cash on a new car.

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Ezekiel 23:19-20 

I will go back to buying a $1,500 from a private owner before I will do that.

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Darksiege
Traveller, Calé, Whisperer
Lead me not into temptation; for I know a shortcut

This actually makes sense now. I used to be able to fill up my truck using my debit/credit/bank card thing at the pump. For the last few months, if I used the debit option, it would stop at 50 bucks every time. So I started using the credit option and didn't run into any problem. Well now that gas is through the roof, it's capped at 75(had it happen at a Wal-Mart pump).

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"It is true that democracy undermines freedom when voters believe they can live off of others' productivity, when they modify the commandment: 'Thou shalt not steal, except by majority vote.' The politics of plunder is no doubt destructive of both morality and the division of labor."