cash only doesn't seem so bad now

[LexiaFira]

another bank folly, not unlike this one by me (to get to the story go to the purple paragraph please)
not sure what to think. just feeling that when a bank/credit/debit card transaction goes wrong it seems both the "merchant" and bank love to back pedal and play blame game on each other or the people in charge of the processing.
so it seems I cannot be mad at my bank, or mad at the merchant or anyone but something needs to be fixed or i am screaming at both sides and closing my account and going back to hard cash.

husband bought some manga from barnes and noble online but because each book came from someone else it was the price of the book PLUS shipping for EACH INDIVIDUAL ONE. so basically for one example a 2.99 fairly good used manga and 4.99 shipping per book. real dumb when some had several books from the same place to ship.
I already expressed my concerns with couldn't he try amazon or elsewhere for shipping costs like that but in the end it worked out. well now after having initially charged us the full cost, we are now getting the individual costs for each person and the first main lumped charge has not been removed and we are now in the hole.
mad at hubs mad at the bank and mad at barnes and nobles as in the fine print from either side no one said this would happen.
and besides the double charge from last time this is NOT the first time our bank has messed up.
with some charges it disappears sometimes and comes back a day or so later or in one case a month later. and the only response we get EACH TIME having asked our bank services is that "it happens sometimes" i finally told the last person it shouldn't happen at all as its a great inconvenience and the no one knows anything game is getting really old really fast.

I seriously want to not have a bank anymore. there are other minor issues but having added them all together its enough for me. would rather have my daughters savings in a jar and let her decide to have her own account when she is old enough since i don't trust our bank anymore.

[ExRetailDrone]

I personally hate banks, have never had good experiences with them, and always feel like I am getting screwed over. I much prefer credit unions. I have never had any major problems with any of the credit unions I have been a member of, there doesn't seem to be nearly as much sneaky shit going on, and any little hiccups that might have come along were easy to fix.

I'm sorry you're dealing with so much crap Hopefully this will get sorted out soon and perhaps looking into another bank or credit union would be a good idea since obviously this is not the first time a major problem has happened. When regarding people's money, they should be on top of working with their members to fix any problems that may arise.

[AdminAssistant]

I'm currently with a big national bank, and I've never had a bad experience with them. We are currently bank shopping since Fiance is leaving his job at his bank, and we want to get our proverbial eggs in one basket. Not sharing accounts, just all at the same bank so we can transfer funds easier and set up a joint savings account. Our car loan is held through a local credit union, but their savings account rates suck and there's no free checking, unless you're a student AND under 25.

[Andara Bledin]

This one's likely a problem with Barnes & Noble's charge system. The original check to ensure that you had the funds should have been released that same day, with the individual charges for each sale going through as the actual merchants shipped. I totally place all of the blame on them. After doing a quick and dirty search, it appears that this is something to be expected when ordering from them. In the future, if you end up trying to buy through their online service again, do all purchases from separate sellers as separate transactions.

I've had smaller outfits who do separated shipping that have had their shit together better.

I know how frustrating this all can be. We recently had a money crunch on our end because the hotel we stayed at for the last convention charged our card for the room despite all of our fees being covered by the convention itself. >_< Thankfully, the bank reversed the overdraft fees without us having to ask as soon as the credit was processed.

^-.-^

[LexiaFira]

WAS a member of a credit union back in texas, until some wise decision to push it to change to a bank was made and the majority of us voted NO to changing. yet it happened anyway so i dropped/closed my account on that one.

List of charges (i cannot recall the day or even month specifically because right now don't have the proof of when it happened anymore only that it did)

-Walmart online charge for a basinet disappears and comes back 2-3 days later
when dealing with bank cust. serv. rep "it happens sometimes" which i took to meant this is a normal thing but it WILL come back. ok fine cause the item had already shipped. (personally it shouldn't happen at all, understandable bugs in the system but enough for a rep to say it happens sometimes is BAD)

- Second time it happened was when we ordered again from someone to have an item delivered, person had already been paid but charge to us had disappeared again so we let it be.

- Third time was when i ordered a book from random house publisher only it disappeared for a MONTH and then reappeared when we did not have the funds for it. when i contacted the bank on it they said it was random houses' doing when i contacted random house they blamed bank. regardless we fixed it but why that happened i don't know because the one time i didn't check and acted like we'd already spent the money and therefore did no more spending outside of bills it went unnoticed so my fault but still. really convenient how both places back pedaled to blame the other. when it could be as Andara has said the processor/online banking site.

- and the final one with the double charge for the cell phone bill. which took five non business days over memorial weekend which i knew was coming but still left us sitting screwed to an extent.


and of course the pending bullshit is going to take all fucking week again. pardon my language but this isn't the first time hubs has screwed us over with his follies yet the times its happened is when I order something, or try to pay a bill. the two items I ordered were for daughter that we needed, the book i put in my money into the account just so i could do that when i was working. the one time with the cell phone bill i just wanted to help.
there have been some times when hubs has gone online to order stuff and didn't read the fine print and had to cancel it because it would have put us in the hole. ok if the site is free then they don't need your cred card "just for verification" then it isn't free. and this last escapade with his mangas...

honestly...right now books for me are a luxury. i still have a stack i have yet to finish or get to some books, he has the library make use of that...nah lets blow the bonus on books knowing we need new clothes to the point most of my shirts are literally falling apart. yeah so don't feel like a hobo when i go shopping.

and sorry that happened to you Andara but at least it was resolved quickly. here it takes what feels like forever.. and making a big deal of it here because everything is just coming down to crunch time and i feel trapped because of all thats going on

[HYHYBT]

One advantage of a credit card for such things.... unless you're up against your limit, these things don't affect you. And even if you are, it doesn't mess up your bank account.

[smileyeagle1021]

By the sound of it, you paid with a debit card, which is one of those things, that knowing the inner workings of that (I've had enough professors who are retired bankers), the best advise I can give is NEVER EVER EVER use a debit card. If you aren't going to use an actual credit card (one not linked to a checking account, but an actual revolving credit account) then use cash or check. Banks and even credit unions have far too many ways that they can screw you over with debit cards (that $15 top off at the gas station may end up taking $75 out of your checking account for up to a week for the station to confirm how much fuel you actually purchased and the bank to release the hold). It get's worse, you have a merchant dispute (say they refuse to honor a warranty on defective merchandise they've sold you), the bank will hold the money out of your account until the dispute it finished (always make major purchases on a credit card if possible, if you need to dispute it you still won't have the disputed amount as available credit, but you won't have to pay it and you won't accrue interest on it, so the money is still yours to use).

[LexiaFira]

to clarify both our cards can work as debit or credit. the last issue, the barnes and bleh as i call it hubs used a cred card. both to our joint account of which i manage daily

my credit is fubared to an extent because i didn't get the extra security to prevent fraud when it was a new thing and so when said no ex friend stole my card and maxed it out and left me high and dry it was on me to pay and w/o that extra security that now comes standard i was left high and dry

hubs messed his credit up too but has yet to straight faced tell me what it was over. it is either something about a student loan or unpaid bills. so we could get a credit card but more than likely don't qualify for one anymore

my rant now is that i am so tired of being screwed one way or the other by a merchant or bank and can't have a card because of one mistake i made even though i paid my debt off and not thinking to fix my credit score which i feel honestly is a great intangible thing that i have to pay to fix or even correct or just pay everything with cash.

nah i don't need a house i will rent forever thank you. yeah the whole credit score for people who hit 18 is basically to me something that starts based on how you manage your credit which will determine basically if you are trustworthy enough to be able to pay off mortgage.
and a rant i do not want to start now because it deviates from my main rant i guess

there aren't credit unions here in this small town and if there is its strictly to Louisiana so that makes it that much more difficult should I say want to go out of state to visit family.

[Andara Bledin]

Most barriers to getting a credit card have nothing to do with bad credit, but are based on a lack of records. I have a great credit score, but couldn't get a card because I didn't have a card. >_< So I broke down and got a secured card with an annual fee so that I could build a record. Having the card made getting a car loan much, much easier. Though if I hadn't bought my current fridge at a rent-to-own place, I would have been SOL.

As for credit vs debit, when you have a card and you're close to living paycheck to paycheck, it doesn't matter which one you use - they're both vital to your monthly finances.

^-.-^

[insertNameHere]

If your card can be used as debit/credit, it is still a debit card, just with some convenience of getting your money out. But I agree with for big purchases using a credit only card, does offer more protection after some shit went wrong with transactions on debit cards for different banks I learned that I had significant protection extended to purchases done with my credit card and they would have made me do less leg work. The nice thing is I got the card when I signed up for key bank as a student, and with online banking I have access to both my checking account that has one of the debit/credit cards and my actual credit card. I just have setup a transfer once a month from a drop down menu to put the money from my checking account to pay off credit card, never had to bother with checks. Actually, went over my limit couple times with no ill effect. Bought my brothers books and forgot I also got gas too. and then when I bought a weekend getaway with the gf. Although, it probably helps I have always paid it in full each month.

[LexiaFira]

oh i have a record, or history....i don't want another credit card. i cannot trust myself with it.
beyond gas and emergency needs. and i do know, don't take it with me, or have it in a separate case that is in the diaper bag or has to be taken with me or it stays at home. I have a separate wallet that stays in my dresser drawer that has all the important info that needs to stay home or cards that i still have and want to keep but don't use as much, such as safeway and tom thumb. there are none here so they stay in that wallet. old driver's license from texas that is expired but has my birthdate on it.
etc. oh yeah and expired gamestop card haha. i act like i am broke most of the time so that the temptation to spend is subdued therefore yes I have funds but only when absolutely necessary and have learned to make due. that way trips just to get one or two things are not happening etc and if we really need it the list had better be at least five items long otherwise not leaving the house beyond going outside.

last time i applied for a credit card two years ago i was declined due to high credit or bad history. i forget which