XPost: rec.arts.sf.written, rec.arts.books   
   From: hayesstw@telkomsa.net   
      
   On Mon, 12 Aug 2013 21:49:31 -0600, Joe Pfeiffer  wrote:   
      
   >Robert Bannister  writes:   
   >   
   >> On 12/08/13 11:23 AM, Rod Speed wrote:   
   >>>   
   >>>   
   >>> "Robert Bannister"  wrote in message   
   >>> news:b6qu74F48beU5@mid.individual.net...   
   >>>> On 11/08/13 11:13 AM, The Horny Goat wrote:   
   >>>>> On Wed, 07 Aug 2013 22:33:50 -0600, Greg Goss  wrote:   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>>>   
   >>>>>> In the very early days, you could get the ATM card combined with your   
   >>>>>> credit card.  Thus you would use the credit card in ATMs and choose   
   >>>>>> which of three accounts you're interacting with.   
   >>>>>>   
   >>>>>> With the rise of using your ATM card as a debit card for purchases,   
   >>>>>> this feature was lost.  Unlike at an ATM, the electronic pathway for   
   >>>>>> using a credit card is quite different from that a debit card uses.   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>> You can still get those in Canada but they're devastating for the   
   >>>>> merchant since debit transactions cost 12-15 cents each while if a   
   >>>>> credit card depending on the type of card it can cost 1.6 to 4.5% of   
   >>>>> the purchase. That's a huge chunk of the merchant's profit margin   
   >>>>> particularly on the affinity cards and 'high spender' or points cards.   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>> Now a merchant who doesn't cover all his costs is out of business so   
   >>>>> you know where those costs get passed along to.... in grocery stores   
   >>>>> they used to work on a 1-2% margin because they were getting 'the   
   >>>>> turns' but these days it's 7-8% mostly to cover card costs.   
   >>>   
   >>>> I don't know how much shop keepers get ripped off by the banks here,   
   >>>   
   >>> Its nothing like as high as that 7-8% here.   
   >>>   
   >>>> but I know that if they didn't accept transactions from saving   
   >>>> accounts as well as from cheque accounts and credit, they would soon   
   >>>> be out of business.   
   >>>   
   >>> Woolys and BigW don't in fact allow you to select   
   >>> the Credit option with a debit card, and that hasn't   
   >>> done them any harm business wise.   
   >>   
   >> I've never seen a debit card, but my MasterCard still comes up with   
   >> the "Cheque, Savings or Credit" choice at Woolworths and BigW.   
   >   
   >I *think* I may have once had a debit card that wouldn't also work as a   
   >credit card.  My bank card for years and years now has been useable as   
   >either.   
      
   As has mine. The interest they charge me when it's in debit is about 10 times   
   the interest they give me when it's in credit, so it's much more economical to   
   keep it in credit and use it as a debit card.   
      
      
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   Steve Hayes   
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