[HN Gopher] You Need a Backup Bank
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       You Need a Backup Bank
        
       Author : josephcsible
       Score  : 32 points
       Date   : 2024-06-28 17:51 UTC (5 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (lifehacker.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (lifehacker.com)
        
       | josefritzishere wrote:
       | Affirmative
        
       | jakub_g wrote:
       | Also, you may lose your bank card randomly any time (lost wallet
       | etc).
       | 
       | While waiting for the new card, having some cash at home and/or
       | backup account with with a backup card at home can be useful.
        
         | dc3k wrote:
         | Who uses cards anymore? I don't even carry a wallet. Everything
         | has been tap to pay on phones for years now.
        
           | Scoundreller wrote:
           | Depends on country. Some still apply their contactless limits
           | to Apple Pay:
           | 
           | https://support.apple.com/en-qa/118627
           | 
           | e.g.:
           | 
           | > France
           | 
           | > You might not be able to use Apple Pay for purchases over
           | 50 EUR.
           | 
           | > Canada
           | 
           | > You might not be able to use Apple Pay for purchases over
           | 250 CAD
        
           | 1oooqooq wrote:
           | It must be nice to never travel anywhere.
        
           | 0cf8612b2e1e wrote:
           | Too much of my life is dependent upon this glass rectangle to
           | also make it the lynchpin for my finances.
        
       | zafka wrote:
       | On another note, alternate between two credit cards. I found out
       | the hard way that cards that are classified as business cards are
       | not reported to the ratings agencies even if they were acquired
       | with your personal SS#. I cannot put into words my distaste for
       | the way credit scores are being handled.
        
         | josefritzishere wrote:
         | Credit scores were invented in 1989. Most countries don't have
         | them at all. (UK, US, Canada, Spain, China and Japan do)
         | Personally, I think they should be illegal.
        
           | complaintdept wrote:
           | The funny thing they were supposed to provide more equitible
           | and fair decisions in issuing loans, but the exact opposite
           | happened.
        
             | Scoundreller wrote:
             | And still at the end of the day, lenders mostly care
             | whether you earn enough to pay.
             | 
             | The credit rating is mainly a way to check how much credit
             | you already have available and whether you're up to date or
             | not. Oh, and verify your identity (probably the primary
             | purpose of them).
        
       | t0mas88 wrote:
       | Absolutely. It's surprising that not everyone does this.
       | 
       | I have two bank accounts, each with a card and Apple pay. My
       | "backup bank" costs about 3 euros / month for a simple payments
       | account, savings and a creditcard.
       | 
       | My main creditcard is a separate Amex, but having a backup Visa
       | card is useful also because Amex acceptance is still not great in
       | Europe.
       | 
       | For less than 50 euros per year that's a lot of redundancy.
        
         | Scoundreller wrote:
         | Meanwhile in USA, paying a monthly fee for a basic bank account
         | means you need to look for a new bank.
        
           | t0mas88 wrote:
           | Are accounts free in the US? My impression was that you pay
           | all kinds of fees for everything with most banks.
           | 
           | That 3 euros includes free ATM usage in nearly all of Europe
           | and no fees on transactions within Europe. It's a lot less
           | than what I paid in banking costs when I was living outside
           | the EU.
        
             | Scoundreller wrote:
             | The accounts are typically free, but they love to nail you
             | on things like going overdraft by 1 cent or "inactivity
             | fees" or other BS.
             | 
             | US Credit cards will only have fees if you get some super
             | premium ones (and even then, there are often promos for
             | that to zero out the fee temporarily or long-term).
        
               | 1oooqooq wrote:
               | in the USA you are more likely to pay for not using your
               | card.
        
             | xenospn wrote:
             | If you have money, a lot of things are free in the US.
             | Ironic, I know.
        
       | oldmariner wrote:
       | You also need multiple credit cards.
       | 
       | I mostly use cash everywhere I go, but I have one credit card for
       | autopay items, and another credit card for random purchases. I
       | have a third card for temporary use should either of the first
       | two cards be hit with fraud and I need to wait for a replacement
       | card in the mail.
       | 
       | If you don't want to have multiple credit card accounts, you can
       | often get a second card on the same account with a different name
       | and use that one.
       | 
       | If you write checks, you should do that from a seperate account
       | because everything someone needs to steal your money is written
       | on the front of the check.
        
         | AstroJetson wrote:
         | I have multiple cards with multiple providers. I make an effort
         | twice a year to run transactions through them to keep them
         | active. The rewards card gets the most activity, the others are
         | there as backup.
         | 
         | I've had the main card "stolen" a few times. Even with free
         | overnight shipping it takes 2 days to get the card and activate
         | the account. Having a backup card makes that less painless.
        
         | thr0w wrote:
         | You don't need any credit cards. I've never had a credit card,
         | and it's caused me 0 friction in life.
        
           | lurking_swe wrote:
           | don't most hotels strongly prefer a credit card on file? i
           | think they typically put a large hold on a debit card. could
           | be an issue for some.
        
           | xenospn wrote:
           | You probably don't go anywhere, because I travel a lot and
           | trying to only use cash would've been a huge burden.
        
           | more_corn wrote:
           | You can't rent a car without a credit card. (Please do not be
           | standing in front of me in line when you try and fail)
           | 
           | Most hotels require one too.
           | 
           | This is for any situation where your liability may exceed
           | your cash on hand.
        
       | water9 wrote:
       | You need Gold not a second bank
        
       | Willish42 wrote:
       | > How you bank can screw you over
       | 
       | This is the first heading 3 paragraphs into the article (note the
       | typo in "you"). Do people ... not even read their own writing
       | before publishing an article these days? I understand people
       | don't want to "waste" money on editors but most random dev blogs
       | have fewer typos than sites like this where content is
       | _monetized_ through ads.
       | 
       | I bank with one of the main US companies and probably should look
       | into using a second, but setting up credit cards etc. at each one
       | seems like a bad idea...
       | 
       | IMO, this is why we should have basic banking through USPS or
       | some other federal organization. I don't care what it costs or
       | why private organizations with [clear histories of
       | fraud](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wells_Fargo_cross-
       | selling_scan...) are supposedly better. We should just have
       | better nationalized banking offerings (airlines and healthcare
       | too for that matter) and remove this problem altogether.
        
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       (page generated 2024-06-28 23:02 UTC)