topic Re: Backup Card? in Credit Cards

Backup Card?

Anonymous — Mon, 17 Aug 2020 13:28:31 GMT

Hi, everyone.

This is a question for only those who carry a AMEX (any AMEX) card and one Bankcard (either Visa or Mastercard).

The scenario is that you go into a store and try to pay with the Visa/Mastercard, and for one reason or other, it is rejected. Then, you try to use AMEX as a backup, but the store does not accept AMEX. So, you are left with no card to use.

Would you want to carry a second Visa/Mastercard as a backup, or is this scenario so unlikely, that you would just stick with the two original cards?

Have a great day, and stay healthy !!

Re: Backup Card?

wasCB14 — Mon, 17 Aug 2020 13:35:59 GMT

With online shopping up and travel and in-store shopping down, I just carry my Costco Visa plus Apple Pay.

Re: Backup Card?

Red1Blue — Mon, 17 Aug 2020 13:39:56 GMT

With online Pay like Apple Pay and Goole Pay we can carry multiple credit cards in the phone. In my wallet, I carry 1 Amex, 1 Visa, 1 MC with me when I go out. There is always another (4th) card in my wallet with very high credit limit as backup. Of course one Debit Card.

Re: Backup Card?

Brian_Earl_Spilner — Mon, 17 Aug 2020 13:58:24 GMT

I carry discover and a MasterCard with my Amex. Worst case scenario, I have my Visa debit that I carry for emergency cash. Unless their terminal is down, they're getting paid.

Re: Backup Card?

Brian_Earl_Spilner — Mon, 17 Aug 2020 14:00:27 GMT

Also, it's extremely unlikely where I live. I've maybe ran into 3 or so places that don't take amex. It could happen though. Not too long ago both the visa and MasterCard networks crashed within a month of each other.

Re: Backup Card?

SecretAzure — Mon, 17 Aug 2020 14:09:23 GMT

It doesn't hurt to have an extra Visa/MC with you. Usually, if the Amex doesn't go through it's because they don't accept it or some sort of hold was put on your card (which is uncommon unless fraud is suspected {unlikely} or you spent well beyond your limit).

I imagine a large part of this community walking around with 10+ cards for every CB/point optimization scenario but realistically, if your lifestyle isn't one of min/maxing rewards, I would say 2 Visa/MC and 1 Amex should offer sufficient redundancies in most scenarios.

Re: Backup Card?

MrDisco99 — Mon, 17 Aug 2020 14:33:28 GMT

I always carry a backup for Amex. Right now it's a Citi DoubleCash. If that gets declined I can use my debit card... or one of my other cards I might happen to be carrying. My Affinity has a quarterly bonus for clothing and furniture stores, so if I happen to be carrying that, it also serves as a backup to my others.

Re: Backup Card?

K-in-Boston — Mon, 17 Aug 2020 15:02:31 GMT

Apple Pay for me as well for points maximizing. I recently moved to a slim wallet and in addition to a few of my Amex cards, I carry CSR and Citi Premier. The only times I normally run into "no Amex" is when paying for parking at a meter or kiosk, and then in addition to not accepting Amex they also usually don't physically accept CSR due to its thickness and being rigid.

Re: Backup Card?

TSlop — Mon, 17 Aug 2020 15:48:52 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Hi, everyone.

This is a question for only those who carry a AMEX (any AMEX) card and one Bankcard (either Visa or Mastercard).

The scenario is that you go into a store and try to pay with the Visa/Mastercard, and for one reason or other, it is rejected. Then, you try to use AMEX as a backup, but the store does not accept AMEX. So, you are left with no card to use.

Would you want to carry a second Visa/Mastercard as a backup, or is this scenario so unlikely, that you would just stick with the two original cards?

Have a great day, and stay healthy !!

Personally, I think it is unlikely, but I'd carry a backup anyway. The only time I've been declined at a store was back in like 2005ish when I was out of state and bought an xbox at a Best Buy. I went back the second day to buy a game and my card declined. The cashier called the credit company, who then requested to talk to me, and they unlocked my card (was a fraud lock). I've been fortunate and never had to worry about a card declining for some other reason, so a fraud alert might be the only issue. If it every happens to me again in the future, it could be cleared up with a (hopefully brief) phone call, or I'll swipe a backup card. It couldn't hurt to carry another one.

Additionally, I was declined online about 2 years ago buying tires. They charged a penny before the actual charge, so the purchase attempt was declined for fraud. I think it was with BoA, and they called me like half an hour later (already used a different card). That's when they told me why it declined and then unlocked it for me and made a note in case I used it again on that website.

Re: Backup Card?

Anonymous — Mon, 17 Aug 2020 16:09:59 GMT

@K-in-Boston wrote:
Apple Pay for me as well for points maximizing. I recently moved to a slim wallet and in addition to a few of my Amex cards, I carry CSR and Citi Premier. The only times I normally run into "no Amex" is when paying for parking at a meter or kiosk, and then in addition to not accepting Amex they also usually don't physically accept CSR due to its thickness and being rigid.

My pocket decided to enter the wrong password into Samsung Pay 20 times, causing it to deactivate. Fortunatly I had backups for what I needed (Square Cash debit + gift card stored on phone). I always carry a physical card for when mobile pay isn't available but this reminded me I can't quite count on maximizing using a mobile wallet!

Re: Backup Card?

kdm31091 — Mon, 17 Aug 2020 16:39:46 GMT

I think the scenario is very unlikely, but if it's going to cause you worry, I'd just carry a backup

Re: Backup Card?

wasCB14 — Mon, 17 Aug 2020 16:59:16 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@K-in-Boston wrote:
Apple Pay for me as well for points maximizing. I recently moved to a slim wallet and in addition to a few of my Amex cards, I carry CSR and Citi Premier. The only times I normally run into "no Amex" is when paying for parking at a meter or kiosk, and then in addition to not accepting Amex they also usually don't physically accept CSR due to its thickness and being rigid.
My pocket decided to enter the wrong password into Samsung Pay 20 times, causing it to deactivate. Fortunatly I had backups for what I needed (Square Cash debit + gift card stored on phone). I always carry a physical card for when mobile pay isn't available but this reminded me I can't quite count on maximizing using a mobile wallet!

And I'm too concerned my phone will fail (a bad battery or software bug) to go without at least one physical card...even if I know a merchant supports NFC for mobile payments.

Re: Backup Card?

KLEXH25 — Mon, 17 Aug 2020 17:09:16 GMT

I think the scenario is unlikely, but not impossible. I carry most of my CCs with me though, plus a debit card. AND I have cards connected to my iPhone Wallet so Apple Pay is another option / backup if needed.

Re: Backup Card?

Anonymous — Mon, 17 Aug 2020 17:11:55 GMT

I used to only carry a MC with AMEX, but recently started carrying a Visa as well.

Re: Backup Card?

Anonymous — Tue, 18 Aug 2020 01:15:05 GMT

I carry all 10 of my cards. So my backups have backups. My backups to my backups have backups. It's not necessary to do this, but if you don't want to ever use a debit card, I'd carry 3 cards if one is an Amex. That makes it extremely unlikely that you would have to use your debit card. So if a merchant doesn't take Amex and your backup doesn't work for some reason (e.g. your backup hasn't been used for a year and you find out the issuer closed the account when you tried to use it), your third card will work.

Re: Backup Card?

Brian_Earl_Spilner — Tue, 18 Aug 2020 01:27:39 GMT

@wasCB14 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@K-in-Boston wrote:
Apple Pay for me as well for points maximizing. I recently moved to a slim wallet and in addition to a few of my Amex cards, I carry CSR and Citi Premier. The only times I normally run into "no Amex" is when paying for parking at a meter or kiosk, and then in addition to not accepting Amex they also usually don't physically accept CSR due to its thickness and being rigid.
My pocket decided to enter the wrong password into Samsung Pay 20 times, causing it to deactivate. Fortunatly I had backups for what I needed (Square Cash debit + gift card stored on phone). I always carry a physical card for when mobile pay isn't available but this reminded me I can't quite count on maximizing using a mobile wallet!
And I'm too concerned my phone will fail (a bad battery or software bug) to go without at least one physical card...even if I know a merchant supports NFC for mobile payments.

That's not outlandish. I've had a phone shut off and not turn back on for hours, for no reason. Had another phone that got fried from a car charger. And I can't even count how many times the battery has died before I could get to a charger.

Re: Backup Card?

cashorcharge — Tue, 18 Aug 2020 01:49:20 GMT

I carry a few options as I rotate my cards a lot so I always have a mix or Visa/MC/AMEX

Love Love Love Apple Pay (Apple Wallet) but fun fact....there is a max of 12 cards permitted in the Wallet App on your phone.

Clearly they need some feedback from MF members that have several cards. LOL

Re: Backup Card?

ccquest — Tue, 18 Aug 2020 11:43:57 GMT

I carry my cards with me so I always have multiple back ups. Usually my fail scenario has historically been a gas pump though and then I'm just sitting there waiting for the pump to reset so I can try again when it doesn't read a chip properly.