Sorry, I have become confused, I originally responded to SusanStoHelit and then to you :).
This is to both of you,
Cheques are not available immediately, but cash is.
Now that I think about it, funds transferred electronically from another bank is usually processed once a day and not on the weekends. This still doesn’t cause the problems you (Susan) talk about though, because if the funds aren’t available to spend then they won’t appear on your ATM or bank statement.
Funds transferred between accounts at my own bank are processed immediately, regardless of the time of day or week.
I don’t have any of the problems mentioned because, here, an ATM statement will give you available funds. The number it gives you is how much you’ve got to spend and it is live. If you check the ATM statement and it says $40, then you go and spend $20, you can back to the ATM straight away and it will say you have $20 left. If I you then go and deposit a $20 cheque and check the ATM it will still say you have $20 because the cheque won’t have cleared yet.
PIN entry is a pain, compared to having the waiter hand you your card back with a slip to sign while still at your table, able to leave as desired without the hassle of the register.
I heard on Clark Howard (a radio money talk show host) that businesses get charged lower fees if they run your transaction as a debit (meaning you have to enter your PIN) vs a credit.
Does anyone know if it is true? If so, it would explain why most stores around here are moving to the keypad card-swipe rather than the cash-register version.
Not sure if that is true. I do know that I avoid using my debit card in the ‘debit/pin’ mode because then my bank charges me a foreign atm transaction fee.
It isn’t just that. To make the system more attractive to business, they eschew the pricing model used by the main credit card companies, which charge businesses for the use of their networks.
