...Euro cash card...

Oh. A cash card is the fourth type of bank card.
Here is a company called Swish issuing that type of card.
Funny name really. You can hear how your money swishing from your account.
But that type is only meant to be connected to an account with a small amount of money.
And the reciever have also to be connected to the system.

Here a cash card use to be just that- a card that behaves like cash. It was a stored value card- there was no connection to any account. When the funds on it have been used, or run low, you needed to recharge it and it was done by buying Credit (paying money) that was then added to the card using the same EFTPOS machines that take payments from it.
Now there appear to be all sorts of so called Cash cards, that are really debit cards linked to an account with the card supplier.

They call them cash cards, but really they are just a different type of debit card- you can only spend what is in the account the card is linked to. With a true a true cash card the amount is stored on the card itself.

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Grant
Darwin NT

But Debit card are also billed monthly or in my case once per year, a fee about 20 Euros.

Just shows the difference, I don't get charged for a debit card and I am fairly sure other UK banks don't either.

Here in Australia you get charged a yearly fee (whether it's a credit card or a debit card), but the charge depends on the card issuer (ie Visa, Amex, Mastercard etc) & and also the company supplying the card (ie a bank, credit union, airline, retailer etc).
There are no annual fee cards available, but they have higher interest rates & other fees and charges that the annual fee cards don't charge- eg no annual fee debit cards will often have a monthly fee on the account they are linked to.

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Grant
Darwin NT

The reason for any card, is that you may not see any 20 dime, for that of a coin.

Back in 1992, I was on a student trip to Brussels, Belgium, where among other things, two slightly different nationalities,
for also that of culture, as well as two different currencies.

Mentioned before, like also "Money for nothing", except for not being any cheap, when next compared with what in your pocket.

Assuming my own currency being quite sound, I had expected it a bit better, but did not end up being so, and perhaps only because of the cash.

If some 10,80 for that of a packet of biscuits, and next paying 11 even, you should have some 0,20 back, but not always so, and this could be the
disadvantage, or maybe misfortune, with that of pure money, for that of cash.

Except for a couple of things to do right now, except for another quick look back.

Now here is a interesting thing.

Over the weekend I was talking with a friend about my upcoming trip to the USA and I mentioned credit/debit cards.

Now he had been to the USA recently and confirmed my suspicion that I would still need to "swipe" my card at some shops/restaurants.

No problem I said, getting out my debit card and looking at the back for the first time in ages, and guess what, the magnetic strip, wasn't there, totally missing.

So I went to the bank yesterday and young guy who I talked to looked totally lost, no magnetic strip? So he had to ask for help, long and short is I have to collect a new card next week.

Because here in the UK the magnetic strip is almost totally redundant, I cannot remember that last time I used it, so I never noticed it was missing. Really glad I checked!! Could have been a problem.

As an aside I have also read that lost of outlets in the USA use "chip and signature" !!! What?? Seems someone didn't quite get the point.

Note to US banks Chip and signature is not more secure :-()

Watching our American colleagues buying meals in assorted Oxford pubs last month, I noticed that many of them had to go down the 'chip and signature' route. Being a major tourist destination, none of the bar staff was fazed by that - but I did wonder what the security purpose was. In a busy pub, almost everything was done 'chip and pin' - or even more commonly, contactless: job done, next customer please. I didn't pay enough attention to notice if the staff checked the back of the American cards to verify the signature, but I suspect mostly not.

It depends on how you use your card.
Usually it is chip and pin for debit use. If you choose the credit option then you slid the chip in and sign your name.

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Watching our American colleagues buying meals in assorted Oxford pubs last month, I noticed that many of them had to go down the 'chip and signature' route. Being a major tourist destination, none of the bar staff was fazed by that - but I did wonder what the security purpose was. In a busy pub, almost everything was done 'chip and pin' - or even more commonly, contactless: job done, next customer please. I didn't pay enough attention to notice if the staff checked the back of the American cards to verify the signature, but I suspect mostly not.

Isn't contactless chip and no pin or signature?

Watching our American colleagues buying meals in assorted Oxford pubs last month, I noticed that many of them had to go down the 'chip and signature' route. Being a major tourist destination, none of the bar staff was fazed by that - but I did wonder what the security purpose was. In a busy pub, almost everything was done 'chip and pin' - or even more commonly, contactless: job done, next customer please. I didn't pay enough attention to notice if the staff checked the back of the American cards to verify the signature, but I suspect mostly not.

Isn't contactless chip and no pin or signature?

Yes but limited to £30 in one transaction.(originally £10)

Isn't contactless chip and no pin or signature?

Yes but limited to £30 in one transaction.(originally £10)

And there are occasional checks of the PIN. All the contactless cards have a PIN for the 'over £30' transactions, but there can be rules like "a newly issued card can't be used contactless until at least one PIN transaction has been verified".

Isn't contactless chip and no pin or signature?

Here in Australia contactless is just that- no PIN or signature required for amounts under $100. For $100 or more the PIN is required.
It was around the time contactless cards came about that they did away with requiring a signature for Credit transactions using the old stripe. You can still use the stripe, and still select Credit, but then you have to enter your PIN. It's a whole lot easier & quicker just to put the card against the machine for a second or less.

About the only EFT (Electronic Fund Transfer) cards that still require (or can even make use of) a signature are fuel cards- and even most of those now either require either a PIN, or nothing. If you've got the card, you're considered authorised to use it, you just have to enter your Odometer reading (the card is linked to a particular vehicle, so you don't even have to enter your rego (registration) number- in the US I think they call it the tag number).

Here contactless is generally referred to as Tap and Go.

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Grant
Darwin NT

I will report my experiences in the USA. I will be travelling a bit so it will be interesting to discover if things are done differently in different states.

I have decide that I will have an amount of cash available "just in case".

I will report my experiences in the USA. I will be travelling a bit so it will be interesting to discover if things are done differently in different states.

I have decide that I will have an amount of cash available "just in case".

What you are most likely to notice is wildly different tax rates as you cross state boundaries. Banking here is Federally regulated, you shouldn't notice differences.

I did promise an update on my experiences with American "cards"

So far I have used contact-less in CVS Pharmacy. MacDonald's, Starbucks and Pret A Manger

I have used Chip and Sign in The Queens Museum and Don Giovanni restaurant At 214 10th Ave.

My card was rejected at a Chinese restaurant in New Hampshire possibly because it was too much for the Chip and sign.

All other transactions were cash.

So better than I had expected.

Most are done by card here, except the rent, they insist on paper checks still.

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

So I have moved on from NY and travelled to see my sister in Hanover PA.

I have booked into a motel and it was here I had the first total failure of my debit card, I told the women on reception not to use the chip but she did and it was rejected. She then swiped it and it was declined!! As it happened I did not have enough cash to pay, however there was an ATM on site and I got the cash from there, the ATM being quite happy with my card.

So seems like a plot to get people to pay by cash.

I hired a car in Baltimore and there was no problem there

Strangely while I expected the ATM's here to charge a fee, the one at Penn station charged $5 a transaction, the one in a Chase bank, charged $3.50 and the ATM in a motel in a small town in PA charged $2.50. Better get some more cash here!!

Try a ATM at 7-11. They claim to have no surcharge machines there.

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Strangely while I expected the ATM's here to charge a fee, the one at Penn station charged $5 a transaction, the one in a Chase bank, charged $3.50 and the ATM in a motel in a small town in PA charged $2.50. Better get some more cash here!!

ATM convenience fees can vary A LOT as there is no federal or state (government) rules/regulations as to the amount of fees they can charge. They only regulation is they are supposed to inform you of how much the fees are before you say "yes" and can withdraw the cash you asked for.

Unfortunately, some of the banks and ATM owners here in the USA are greedy and like to charge "convenience" fee(s) on BOTH ends of the transaction - once at the ATM and again on when their customers monthly bank statement is generated.

It is common practice for US banks to "double dip" and charge their OWN customers a fee if they do not use one of the bank owned ATM's (many bank refer to as a "home" transaction) as well as non-bank owned ATM's (many bank refer to as a "out of network" transaction).

"Double dip" example: My bank will charge me a $3 fee for every non "home" ATM cash withdrawal on my monthly statement on top of what I was charged at the various ATM's when I withdraw the cash. They prefer customers to use their "home" ATM's.

Most larger retail stores here in the US will allow you to get up to $100 per transaction cash back with any purchase using your debit card (with pin) for no extra charge. Regional Grocery, Drug (CVS, Walgreen's), Discounter/Mass Merchandise (Target, WalMart) are the most common ones.
Example: You buy a soda and bag of chips for $2.50 you can request cash back up to what the store limit is.

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Most larger retail stores here in the US will allow you to get up to $100 per transaction cash back with any purchase using your debit card (with pin) for no extra charge. Regional Grocery, Drug (CVS, Walgreen's), Discounter/Mass Merchandise (Target, WalMart) are the most common ones.
Example: You buy a soda and bag of chips for $2.50 you can request cash back up to what the store limit is.

Use of cash has declined so much here in Australia that many businesses won't allow cash-out transactions now as they don't get enough cash in during the day to keep enough change for those that still do use cash to pay for stuff. Even many service (gas ) stations don't provide cash-out, generally it's only he larger retailers/supermarkets that still provide that service.

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Grant
Darwin NT

SCARY!
Google tracking-Mastercard purchases

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Try a ATM at 7-11. They claim to have no surcharge machines there.

That logo is weird, why a lowercase n at the end?

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Life on earth is the global equivalent of not storing things in the fridge.