<p>Some of the CCs I have gotten with signing bonuses allow me to put household income, otherwise with my minuscule income, I’d never qualify. You have to scour the apps and see what works. Creditors have gotten much more selective, and JCB in Japan especially!</p>
<p>Oh I don’t know if my daughter was trying to help the family – I think she just thought it would be fun to mail in the credit card application and see what happened. But she would definitely have been aware that money was tight, and she might have been aware that mommy’s own credit card was all used up. (I don’t think I had totally maxed out, but I very well might have told my kids that I couldn’t use my own credit cards any more when I was trying to pay them off)</p>
<p>When my daughter started using the card as a teenager while still in high school, she always wanted to pay the bill the day it arrived, so the bank ended up with a good customer, whether or not the debt was legally enforceable due to her age.</p>
<p>@busdriver11 - I don’t know if I just didn’t see it before or if you recently changed your avatar but OMG your dogs are ADORABLE. </p>
<p>Cavaliers are wonderful, adorable dogs. My DS used to call ours is “babe magnet”. When he took the dog for a walk on the walking trail, girls just clustered around!! So bummed that his gf is allergic to dogs!</p>
<p>Thanks, romani! As jym said, they are total babe magnets. The picture I have is of them at Hone Depot, their favorite store. My husband has a hard time getting through the store because he keeps getting stopped. Such gentle, loving dogs. They are also nurses, and if anyone is sick or needs comforting, they stick to them like glue.</p>
<p>That’s so beautiful. </p>
<p>I also like the fact that they get to go on r-i-d-e-s with you guys. My dog is not nearly that well behaved. I swear she has dog ADD and just needs to sniff and lick and greet everyone and everything. Going through a store would take hours -.- lol </p>
<p>Re cash tips… I do carry cash when on vacation for tipping the maid… and I try ti make my purchases on vacation with cash because it’s easier ti stay on your vacation budget that way… though I always wind up spending more then I budgeted and charging the rest… after all its vacation, lol.</p>
<p>There are some places here that are cash only… plus my nail place only takes cash tips… you just have to know that and plan accordingly. </p>
<p>I take maybe twenty bucks a month out at the atm. That’s enough cash for a month… unless on vacation.</p>
<p>Everything else is charged. </p>
<p>OP, yes, there are times a credit card can be very useful. Around here some places absolutely require a CREDIT card, not a debit one for renting cars or hotel rooms. If you are pressed and get hit with something like that, it’s one more pain in the neck. This happened to my son who needed to rent a van, and the ONLY place in the area that had one for that weekend required a CREDIT card, not a debit one. I had to rent it for him and put him down as other driver which was a pain in my craw. He could have also increased the area of where he got the van which would have meant even more of a pain–good chance a place would have rented to him within a two hour radius, and then there are cost issues involved too. But had he had a credit card, which he now has, it would have taken him minutes to seal the deal, instead of having to call me, and get me involved, and I had to go and rent the danged thing and add me to any risks involved as well as time expended. </p>
<p>How can companies tell, especially online or over the phone, whether your card is debit or credit? Is it something in the number? </p>
<p>most debit cards can be used as a credit card, the ones that say visa, MasterCard, etc on them.</p>
<p>But when you run it through the system, it can tell if it’s debit or credit. Usually it pops up asking which you wantito use. If you pick debit, you have tu enter your pin. If you pick credit, you don’t enter your pin.</p>
<p>I’ve seen some places where it automatically runs it through as credit, without having to put in your pin or without asking you if you want debit or credit.</p>
<p>I’d imagine it just depends on what system and software they are using to compete the transaction.</p>
<p>"most debit cards can be used as a credit card, the ones that say visa, MasterCard, etc on them.</p>
<p>But when you run it through the system, it can tell if it’s debit or credit. Usually it pops up asking which you want to use. If you pick debit, you have to enter your pin. If you pick credit, you don’t enter your pin."</p>
<p>So the reality is, most anyone who has an ATM card (as long a they have the cc symbol on it), has a credit card availability, whether they want it or not. And I am curious about that, as I have never used my ATM as a credit card, if you use it as a credit card…how does that work? Do you get a separate statement like you would with any credit card? Or does it just come out of your account like the ATM?</p>
<p>Pretty dog, romani. I’ll bet she gets everything she wants in your house, with that pleading look!</p>
<p>It comes out of your account whether you use it as a debit or a credit card. There is no separate statement. But the reason I ask is because some posters have had to put down extra deposits when using a debit card to rent a car or a hotel room. How does the car rental company or hotel know the card you are using is a debit card, unless they are looking at it?</p>
<p>Whenever I have rented a car, they have needed to see the actual, physical card, even if they had my card on file.</p>
<p>Mine has the visa symbol and the word debit next to it.</p>
<p>Either way, it comes out of your bank account right away. The only difference is how they’re processing it. So if I lose my card, you pick it up and start putting things through as credit using ny card, you can wipe out my bank account without knowing my pin. Same thing if someone gets my numbers some other way.</p>
<p>With a regular credit card, they can still rack up
Charges but you’ll get an actual Bill for them without the money coming directly out of your bank account.</p>
<p>S lost debit card at his US college, so having a CC was a nice back-up. I sent him with 2 debit cards and a CC for study abroad, and he lost one debit card in the ATM within the first 2 months, so I was glad he had a back-up to the back-up. Now he has a job in the foreign country, and was able to get a local bank account and ATM card. I sleep better now.</p>
<p>Another sweet looking dog. What beautiful colors, BerneseMtn.</p>
<p>Good to know about the credit function of your ATM card coming right out of the account. The bank says there is the same dispute and theft protection for an ATM card as for a credit card, though I see how it could be difficult if you needed your money right away. They have a zero liability policy.</p>
<p>There Is protection and they will work to get your money back, but in the time being you are without that money. </p>