How much CASH do you carry?

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randyt said:
I have very little use for a digital transaction
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Me too. I use my CC's for online purchases and such when I have no other choice, but other than that it's cash. I like the privacy it provides and the small amount of CC points I would get does not entice me as much as privacy does. I don't have anything to hide, but I use it b/c I don't want cash to become obsolete. It is a big concern of mine. If not for my generation, for my kids. Plus, I don't want to support the mega rich CC companies that take a cut of every transaction that gets run through their card, regardless if you pay off your card every month or not. Ultimately those costs get passed down to the consumer.
Morgan101 said:
Change/Coins is something I never carry on me unless it is from a transaction that day, When I get home it goes in a dish, and when the dish is full it goes into a very large jar. The jar is nowhere near half full but I know there is several hundred dollars in it. I hope I can never touch it for the next ten years, and then let the grandkids have a field day. By that time it will probably take three men and a boy to lift it.
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I have a change purse in my wallet and usually give exact change when I purchase something. I have LOTS of change b/c hubs never uses his change either and it gets tossed into a jar every day when he gets home. I used change during the 'great change shortage' last year as well. Cashiers were happy to get the change and I was happy to spend it. I teased hubs that he caused the shortage by never spending his change!

Who knows? Maybe if more cyber attacks are incoming, stores will have to resort to taking cash only more often. Their registers should still work even if the CC readers are down. Those with cash in their pockets would be the first ones to have access to goods when everyone else would go scrambling to come up with some cash. That extra time could come in handy even if you were only on the way home and wanted to top off the fuel tank and grab some fresh groceries.
 
angie_nrs said:
Who knows? Maybe if more cyber attacks are incoming, stores will have to resort to taking cash only more often. Their registers should still work even if the CC readers are down. Those with cash in their pockets would be the first ones to have access to goods when everyone else would go scrambling to come up with some cash. That extra time could come in handy even if you were only on the way home and wanted to top off the fuel tank and grab some fresh groceries.
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Cash still rules down here. The grocery store I shop at, more than half of people checking out still pay with cash.
Since everyone here has played the 'hurricane game' and have seen what the world looks like with "cash-only" signs everywhere, we all have cash.
Pray for the people in 'yuppie-towns' that have swallowed the "Tap&Pay" koolaid.
They will be skrewed. :confused:
 
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Appreciate the thread. Stuff I think about that I think no one else thinks about, lol.

For a long time I didn't carry much cash with me. After living in New Orleans and getting robbed at gunpoint a few times, CCs seemed the way to go - they can be cancelled quickly, and I was determined no more b*st*rds would get my cash. Plus the CCs don't cost me anything (I pay the balance each month), and I get cash-back bonuses.

Lately I've come to keep cash on me, about $100-$150, due to being in a rural area a lot where electronic services often don't work. But I know it should be more, due to the stuff going on in the world.

Would like to keep more on hand at home, too. I'm of the mind that if I can't put my hands on it, it's not mine.
 
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goshengirl said:
Appreciate the thread. Stuff I think about that I think no one else things about, lol.
...
Lately I've come to keep cash on me, about $100-$150, due to being in a rural area a lot where electronic services often don't work. But I know it should be more, due to the stuff going on in the world.

Would like to keep more on hand at home, too. I'm of the mind that if I can't put my hands on it, it's not mine.
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Yes, and as people will discover, when the CC machines go offline, all the ATM's are either offline or out of cash. gaah
Welcome to our world!!!
As far as keeping more cash at home, a cheap fire-safe that is too heavy for one person to carry, is all you need.
It helps you sleep better at night too!:thumbs:
 
I normally carry my entire payday, the rest of the time I use the plastic.
Yes, I support the gray and black markets. Sorry Sam, I know you want my
money, but its mine!
 
I don't have any credit cards, and usually only keep enough in the bank to pay the bills, plus a small cushion for just in case. Most purchases are in cash.

Cash on me? Only what I can afford to spend, cause in these inflationary times I'm just po' folk
 
I use pay pal on line.
I got a amazon card for Christmas & used it once.
Some spam is telling me my account is frozen, it is not, I got what I paid for.
So I delete the spam, without opening it.
 
joel said:
My son always gave me the change.
My wife & daughter never did.
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Daughter would need $7 for a school function. I’d give her a $10 and tell her I want the change back. I soon learned I needed to be more specific because there was no change. The next time I told her how much change I needed back and she would with a smile.
 
My wife and I both have change jars. About once a year we'll cash them in. We usually get around $300 each.
It's getting harder to swap it out for bills even though there is supposed to be a coin shortage. One place want's it rolled and another one won't take it if it is rolled and they ALL want a percentage.
Coinstar in Walmart charges 2% unless you get a Walmart gift card.
If I drop a coin I don't pick it up. I leave it hoping some kid finds it.
 
When my kids were young, I used to keep five's and ten's in my wallet instead of all twenty's. So I didn't have to give them a $20 to buy a book and have to worry about change (back then, many books were less than $20!) We had an agreement with the kids - anytime they wanted a book, we would buy it for them. No restrictions on content, it could be a novel or technical book or whatever, we just wanted to keep them reading. But I found out early on that handing out a $20 for every book was killing me in the returned change department.
 
Not having cash would cause me to panic lol What if I see a garage sale or a thrift store with some treasure I didn’t know I needed until just then?! I keep $300-400 in the car at all times, $40-50 in my wallet, a couple thousand in my stash at home. I generally carry a couple thousand when I go out of town. Hubby likely has a rather large stash of cash rat holed somewhere.
I only spend cash at garage sales, when I don’t want hubby to know the details of a purchase, or if using the CC would require them taking it out of my sight to ring up the transaction.
I have only had a debit card for a brief period of time, have never used an ATM.
 
backlash said:
My wife and I both have change jars. About once a year we'll cash them in. We usually get around $300 each.
It's getting harder to swap it out for bills even though there is supposed to be a coin shortage. One place want's it rolled and another one won't take it if it is rolled and they ALL want a percentage.
Coinstar in Walmart charges 2% unless you get a Walmart gift card.
If I drop a coin I don't pick it up. I leave it hoping some kid finds it.
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I roll my own. I mean, come on, it's not hard when you are sitting on your butt watching a football game. That's the least I can do. I take mine to my bank. No charge. I too would get a few hundred dollars when the jar was full. Now I have a much bigger jar. Probably silly, and heavy, but I keep two rolls of quarters and two rolls of dimes in my GHB., as well as small bills.

I think I stopped picking up change from the ground when Covid hit. Now I am just old. When you drop something when you are young, you bend over and pick it up. When you drop something when you are old, you look at it and think "How badly do I need that?"
 
goshengirl said:
Love this point.
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Almost every restaurant down here, the waiter totes off your CC with the bill after the meal.
Do I worry about that?
Absolutely not.
It's the CC company's money at risk, not mine (until I pay the statement).
People lose sight of how this works.
Vendors bill the CC company and they pay the vendor.
The CC company submits a bill/statement to us, and only after our approval, does it involve our money.
If a fraudulent purchase for $5,000 was being made on one of my credit-cards right now, would I care?
No. I would simply freeze the account and pull another CC out of my dresser drawer.
People should have at least 4 CC's up their sleeve, ready to go.
It's one of those 'prepping' things like everything else this forum is about...
Get them BEFORE you need them. :thumbs:
(sorry, now back to real money).
 
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goshengirl said:
I hear what you're saying, @Supervisor42. I just know that someone getting ahold of my credit card number (plus the 3 digit number on back, I forget what it's called) and going on a shopping spree is a PITA. ;)
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I've never had problems when one of my credit cards has been compromised. The bank always catches it before I do. Pretty amazing. They'll call and let me know that the compromised card was frozen, and that they are mailing me a new one overnight. I suppose if you only have one card then that one or two day freeze might cause problems, but we have multiple cards and if need be, switch to one of the others until we get the replacement card. I always have at least two, more likely three, different CC's in my wallet.

Things were much worse in the old days. Back then, debit cards were not used in our household. They didn't have the protections that CC's do. And CC protection was dependent on you noticing the compromise yourself and reporting it quickly. Even then, you still had some liability. $50 or so. Not terribly much, but you would lose a small amount of money regardless. Things are much better regarding CC's and debit cards these days. But we still don't use debit cards, out of habit, even though they are relatively safe these days.
 
goshengirl said:
I hear what you're saying, @Supervisor42. I just know that someone getting ahold of my credit card number (plus the 3 digit number on back, I forget what it's called) and going on a shopping spree is a PITA. ;)
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Not if you simply park it and pull out CC #2. #1 is gonna be frozen for a while. :confused:
When I eat at a restaurant, there it absolutely NOTHING keeping them from tossing it on a copy machine front & back, and getting all the info off of it, including the magic 3-digit (CVV) 'security code'.
Not my problem.
Do not let the CC company try to play the 'share the blame' game.:mad:
They paid the vendor/scammer, not you. Tell them to go get it back!
Haertig said:
I've never had problems when one of my credit cards has been compromised. The bank always catches it before I do. Pretty amazing. They'll call and let me know that the compromised card was frozen, and that they are mailing me a new one overnight...
Things were much worse in the old days. Back then, debit cards were not used in our household. They didn't have the protections that CC's do. And CC protection was dependent on you noticing the compromise yourself and reporting it quickly. Even then, you still had some liability. $50 or so. Not terribly much, but you would lose a small amount of money regardless. Things are much better regarding CC's and debit cards these days. But we still don't use debit cards, out of habit, even though they are relatively safe these days.
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Never, EVER use a debit card if a CC can be used instead!
You may end up not losing any money with a debit card, but having your checking account frozen for 2 weeks or more can be a total bummer! :oops:
You have no money, except all that cash in the safe, and you can't pay your internet bill with cash, regardless how much you have.:mad:
 
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My CC was compromised. Someone intercepted the transaction when a restaurant entered my information over an unsecured link. At least that's what the police told me. Seems like small mom and pop places are real diligent about keeping their systems updated.
I was lucky, the bank figured it out and shut off my car and replaced the funds immediately.
The people that got my number must of actually made a CC with my information because they charged $5 at McDonalds and you need a card to do that.
 
backlash said:
My CC was compromised. Someone intercepted the transaction when a restaurant entered my information over an unsecured link. At least that's what the police told me. Seems like small mom and pop places are real diligent about keeping their systems updated.
I was lucky, the bank figured it out and shut off my car and replaced the funds immediately.
The people that got my number must of actually made a CC with my information because they charged $5 at McDonalds and you need a card to do that.
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Yep. Years ago DW's CC got 'cloned'. (Before there was 'chip-cards', just a strip).
She got a call about how she was making multiple cash withdrawals at ATM's in California when she used it in 'Bama only 6 hours earlier. (not possible)
I loved what she told them: "I'm holding the card in my hand at home right now, what do you want me to read off of it?"
They had some work to do. Like @Haertig said, she had a new card the next day. :thumbs:
Many may think I am anti-machine, but they are very good at what they do, if they are on your side.
They love patterns too. If any of my 'out-of-town-only' CC's went rogue, they would flag it immediately.
Haaaay! He wouldn't be buying all that crap!:waiting:
A $950 washing machine close to home? Yep!:thumbs:
 
backlash said:
Someone intercepted the transaction when a restaurant entered my information over an unsecured link. At least that's what the police told me. Seems like small mom and pop places are real diligent about keeping their systems updated.
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If that's true - which it probably isn't - the fault would lie with the entity processing the transaction, not the mom & pop shop failing to keep something updated. The receiving end of the transaction (the place that processes things) can quite trivially REQUIRE a secure connection, REQUIRE encryption, REQUIRE specific encryption algorithms known to be secure, REQUIRE proper authentication - and refuse to process the transaction if the mom & pop end does not comply. I can't imagine a transaction processing center that wouldn't do this.

Even our forums here do this. Try connecting to Homesteading & Country Living Forum and you will automatically be routed to an https (secure) connection. The normal process is if your browser doesn't support https (I can't think of one that doesn't) then you will be dumped and not get in. Although it is possible to allow http (unsecure) fallback if https is not supported (you don't see this too often - never at a place like a bank or transaction processing center). For financial connections, it's "no https?" then "hasta la vista, baby!" If the transaction processing center uses some other protocol other than https for connections, those will have the same security/encryption capabilities, or even stronger capabilities.
 
The way the Seattle detective explained it to me was the crook didn't intercept the transaction then retransmit it they just captured a copy of what was being transmitted. Then they sold the data to others who made their own fake CC.
There was a lot of people buying things all over the world from Brazil to Russia with CC from Seattle.
The bank told me they would follow up with me but I never heard anything of course.
 
backlash said:
The way the Seattle detective explained it to me was the crook didn't intercept the transaction then retransmit it they just captured a copy of what was being transmitted.
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That is more likely. The transmission itself was probably secure and encrypted. But then after it got to the transaction center, their database was stolen. Tying to grab an individual transaction during transmission is hit or miss. And the crook would have no idea if they were getting CC info from a wealthy person of someone already three months past due in paying their bill. But when you steal the entire database at the far end - then you get a lot of accounts to work with, and you can decrypt things at your leisure. That's assuming that the database was encrypted in the first place. There are still places that transmit things secure and encrypted, but then decrypt them and store them in their database unencrypted. Then you read about these databases getting hacked and exposing hundreds of thousands of accounts. Hopefully banks and financial transaction processing centers use encrypted databases, but who knows? Many crooks are not grabbing "transactions" either. They are grabbing "accounts" from large databases. Where the users set their own passwords. Like "password123". The crooks don't need to decrypt anything. They just guess bad passwords and see what pops up. And when it's a computer doing the guessing, it doesn't take long to find bad passwords at 1000 guesses per second. Those limits that merchants have of locking you out after five bad guesses don't apply to crooks when they have the entire database sitting on their computers.

When a transaction is stolen during transmission, then the crook has to deal with the entire transaction being encrypted. These are not encrypted using bad passwords created by users. So the crook actually has some real decryption to do. Compared to that, a database holding stuff encrypted with poor user passwords is a piece of cake to guess your way through.

Anyway, in the end, all this online stuff has put us at higher risk over the years. So it's good that the CC companies now bear the brunt of the responsibility for fighting fraud.
 
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