topic Re: The Folly of Using a Debit Card in General Credit Topics

The Folly of Using a Debit Card

llecs — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 16:26:17 GMT

Prior to rebuilding our credit, DW and I were cash only. We never had a problem with using cash for car rentals, hotels, and the like. Even today, with better credit, if given the choice between using a CC or cash, we still use cash.

This week, the family and I are in Houston, TX. I reserved a multi-night stay at a Residence Inn while we visit family (they have only one extra bedroom and didn't want to sleep our family of 5 on the floor). I secured the room with my BofA Debit Card. Dumb! I know. Considering that I had plenty of other CCs to choose from.

Fast forward to the weekend. I check in and they ask if they would like to use the card on file (debit card). I say no and pay about $1200 in cash. They did say they wanted to secure the room with a credit or debit card to cover for "incidentals". I guess they thought our 4 yo would party too much. If I were to use a debit card, it would be $50/night or $300 all together. For a CC, it is just $50 and used that.

Well, I looked online after staying here for a couple days and noticed they charged my debit card for $1240 after paying cash. This charge was a temporary charge but zapped needed-budgeted cash for this trip. Annoying!!! They finally released the funds this morning, but we had to face the decision to either change our plans, take from savings, or use CCs, none of which I wanted to do.

This is the last time I'll ever use a debit card for a hotel.

Re: The Folly of Using a Debit Card

MidnightVoice — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 16:39:49 GMT

I am surpised you got caught in this trap. This is one of my major anti-Dave Ramsey rants - when they block out that money it can take up to two weeks to unblock it

I always use a CC for hotels and car rentals, even if I then decide to pay the bill in cash.

I hope you still manage to have a good holiday

Re: The Folly of Using a Debit Card

llecs — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 16:50:09 GMT

At the chagrin of fellow mods, DR is a good guy, but I do disagree with him on points such as this. The only way to avoid this problem would be to NOT reserve the room and show up paying cash. Of course I'd have to also fork out the extra, refundable $300 for incidentals. At least the hotel returned the $$$. They also offered to return the $50 used as security. I told them to keep it as they have yet to meet our kids.

Re: The Folly of Using a Debit Card

MidnightVoice — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 16:54:27 GMT

This is a classic example of why using a CC can save you money.

If you can control yourself and use it sensibly that is DR seems to be useful for addicts

Message Edited by MidnightVoice on 12-23-2008 10:54 AM

Re: The Folly of Using a Debit Card

Lel — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 19:25:20 GMT

In general, the use of debit cards is not as secure as the use of credit cards. If your credit card is stolen and used fradulently, then you can dispute the charges and get a new card and not have any liability for the fraudulent charges. You're free to use the card and your credit line, though you might get some phone calls from the credit card company to make sure that any new charges are legitimate. If your debit card is stolen, it takes a lot longer for the mess to be cleaned up, and in the meantime your cash is inaccessible until everything is resolved.

Re: The Folly of Using a Debit Card

MidnightVoice — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 19:27:14 GMT

Lel wrote:
If your debit card is stolen, it takes a lot longer for the mess to be cleaned up, and in the meantime your cash is inaccessible until everything is resolved.

Unless it WAMU, when it is never resolved and the cash is never returned (DD's debit card # was stolen and used in Canada)

Re: The Folly of Using a Debit Card

haulingthescoreup — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 19:42:02 GMT

llecs wrote:
At the chagrin of fellow mods, DR is a good guy...

We love you anyway, llecs!

I mostly agree --he has good ideas, but he gets on his hobbyhorse and rides it far beyond the point of common sense.

Re: The Folly of Using a Debit Card

llecs — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 03:06:40 GMT

**************UPDATE**************

Wowzers......this vacation of ours sure is teaching us a lesson.

1) I paid cash to the Residence Inn.....they did reverse the $$$ and all was well. Unfortunately, DW, the kids and I returned after a day of family on Christmas Day to a room we were locked out of. The keys didn't work at all. I left everyone next to our room door and marched down to the front office only to find that locked. My room key didn't work and nobody was on duty. I banged the door over and over and over. Rang the door bell. Called 411 to call the office. No luck. So, I loaded up the kids to find another hotel. We drove around some, but came back to ours to find it staffed once again.

If we could not get into our room, I could dispute the charges if a CC and get the $$$ back for that one night. I can't dispute a cash payment.

2) Our trip then took us to New Orleans, where we are now. DW used her BofA Amex to book a hotel off Canal street for a "large suite, non-smoking" room. The pictures made it look so good, but at $59/night, I was very skeptical. Nonetheless, we checked in and paid Cash in lieu of a CC for 2 nights. The room was terrible. The floor was wet. There was "stuff" caked on the sheets. There was dirt in the bed. It was a reg. sized room. There was no hot water. And the room was a smoking room and was adorned with ash trays. Finally, I guess being Sugar Bowl weekend, people ran up and down the halls and banged on the doors at all hours. DW wanted out so we went down the street to the Marriott.

We insisted they refund us for the night we didn't stay (tonight) and they said "No". I asked to speak to the manager and again said "No". So, with a lobby full of potential customers, I proceeded to tell them everything wrong with our room and included every detail, "caked-on" stuff and all. The manager then said to follow him and he took me to a back office and locked the door. I restated everything in detail and he obliged to a cash refund.

Had I used a CC, even DW's BofA Amex, then all we had to do is dispute and that would be that. The pictures we took do NOT lie.

Re: The Folly of Using a Debit Card

haulingthescoreup — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 03:35:13 GMT

Eeeeewwwww!

I'm so sorry, that sounds like WAY more of an adventure than anyone needs, especially with little kids in tow.

A great first-person report of how CC's can be useful.

I hope the Marriott is treating you better. We stayed at the Homewood Suites on Poydras. Not exactly vintage New Orleans decor, but clean and comfortable, with a separate LR and BR. And they serve red beans and rice on Monday nights, as God intended things to be!

Fingers crossed for happier stays from here on out!

Re: The Folly of Using a Debit Card

llecs — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 03:59:35 GMT

Marriott is way better. We are on Canal St. but closer to the water than the other hotel. Spent time at the aquarium, had begnits (sp?) and coffee at Cafe du Monde. We asked a couple locals for the best cajun place and both independently said "Acme Seafood Co.". Awesome place (line stretched a half block). We all split seafood gumbo, fried crawfish, crawfish etouffette (sp?), oysters on the half shell (DD is an oyster addict), and we also split up an oyster and shrimp po boy. For dessert, the kids had ice cream, I had bread pudding, and DW had a banana fosters' cheesecake. I'm TJing my own post, but I am hungry again. Sadly, we are leaving in the morning.

Re: The Folly of Using a Debit Card

haulingthescoreup — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 04:13:46 GMT

lol, it took me a month to get the powdered sugar out of my purse after Cafe du Monde!

If you have time in the morning, you might try Mother's on Poydras at Tchop Street. They open pretty early (6:30 or 7, I think), and it's like Acme and Cafe du Monde --a must-see. Or must-eat, I suppose. They're famous for their po' boys, but they do serve regular breakfast. Lots of locals, not just tourists like us. Know what you want before you get to the ordering area, lol.

Anyway, have a safe trip back home!

Re: The Folly of Using a Debit Card

Math_Rocks — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 04:22:08 GMT

@haulingthescoreup wrote:
lol, it took me a month to get the powdered sugar out of my purse after Cafe du Monde!

If you have time in the morning, you might try Mother's on Poydras at Tchop Street. They open pretty early (6:30 or 7, I think), and it's like Acme and Cafe du Monde --a must-see. Or must-eat, I suppose. They're famous for their po' boys, but they do serve regular breakfast. Lots of locals, not just tourists like us. Know what you want before you get to the ordering area, lol.

Anyway, have a safe trip back home!

I was in New Orleans for a conference & interviews just two years ago. Despite not liking seafood, I thought I'd do fine because of my fondness for red beans & rice. However, I never found a good place and my buddy, who loves seafood, kept ordering things with unidentifiable crustacean parts hanging out! Sounds like you're the person to ask if I ever go back!

The highlight for me was Cafe du Monde and, yes, everything of mine had powdered sugar in it!

Re: The Folly of Using a Debit Card

llecs — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 04:43:41 GMT

haulingthescoreup wrote:
If you have time in the morning, you might try Mother's on Poydras at Tchop Street. They open pretty early (6:30 or 7, I think), and it's like Acme and Cafe du Monde --a must-see. Or must-eat, I suppose. They're famous for their po' boys, but they do serve regular breakfast. Lots of locals, not just tourists like us. Know what you want before you get to the ordering area, lol.

Anyway, have a safe trip back home!

Thanks. We'll try that in the morning.....Looks like they open at 7am.

Re: The Folly of Using a Debit Card

cobaltnv — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 22:36:35 GMT

I have to agree with HTSU. Mother's is great. I go to New Orleans every couple of years and I always make sure to hit Mother's once or twice.

Enjoy!

Re: The Folly of Using a Debit Card

llecs — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 01:39:01 GMT

llecs wrote:
haulingthescoreup wrote:
If you have time in the morning, you might try Mother's on Poydras at Tchop Street. They open pretty early (6:30 or 7, I think), and it's like Acme and Cafe du Monde --a must-see. Or must-eat, I suppose. They're famous for their po' boys, but they do serve regular breakfast. Lots of locals, not just tourists like us. Know what you want before you get to the ordering area, lol.

Anyway, have a safe trip back home!
Thanks. We'll try that in the morning.....Looks like they open at 7am.

Unfortunately we didn't make it to Mother's. We had planned to eat there, but got off to a later start and asked a couple folks who said there's always a long wait. We also planned to drive near there and take off from there, but the Saints game was that afternoon and there was over an hour wait to retreive our car. So, our fallback was Cafe du Monde again via a walk and we hit a restaurant along the way (crummy food . They served the wrong dish to DW. Not knowing, DW took a bite and then they took it away. After 10 minutes, they handed the exact same plate to the couple behind us for their order. We know this because they complained it was cold and DW told them that it could have been hers. She described in detail the bite and that customer left, the one next to them overheard and they left.....if this is any indication....)

Re: The Folly of Using a Debit Card

haulingthescoreup — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 02:13:19 GMT

lol, consumers strike back!

We never managed to leave anywhere on time when our kids were little. Now that I think about it, we don't do very well now, either!

Ah, a Case for Cash

llecs — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 00:37:51 GMT

This past weekend we stayed at a Sheraton Four Seasons in Greensboro, NC. We stayed there dozens of times before but over the past few stays, we noticed that quality was dropping a little bit.

I go to check in and ask for an upgrade to a suite. We had the kids with us and a babysitter and needed more than the two beds. A bigger room was available and we snatched it. We paid with cash again but this time they insisted on a CC. Due to our past month's travel, a CC to secure the room was fine by us. However, they said there would be a $250 deposit on the CC which was more than half of our 2-night stay. I declined the charge and said I will pay cash only. They went onto explain that I would still have to fork over $250. So, I reluctantly gave them $250 in cash for the deposit.

Upon checking out I asked for a manager. I beleive the GM (or designate) showed up and I inquired as to why we had to pay a deposit. He explained that they recently changed their policy to require deposits of $100 per room and $250 per suite, regardless of length of stay, to cover any charges to the room. I told him that I used a CC to secure the room when I reserved it and asked why they'd need a deposit if they had my CC on file. He said that a good number of guests in recent months were reserving the room with a low limit or maxed out CC. After checking in these guest would then charge everything to the room (meals, food, drinks, personal items, etc.) and the hotel was unable to get $$$ from the guests to cover the charges as they checked out. In turn, they hired CAs to pursue these losses, but had little luck in collecting. So they felt that a deposit requirement was the only option.

Now the case for CA$H: had I given a CC or told them to charge the deposit to the CC on file, and using what they later said, they would hold the funds for 5 days via an authorization. However, cash was returned promptly on Sunday morning when we were checking out and there was no hold on any CC. BTW, this Sheraton initiated the deposit requirement independently from Sheraton Corp.

Re: Ah, a Case for Cash

Anonymous — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 17:30:32 GMT

Another good thing about credit is the obvious and thats not having to carry so much cash on hand.

Have you ever tried using travleres cheques? People rarely use those anymore. I wonder if they would just take the cheques and give them back when you check out?