• Hello Members, This forums is for DV lottery visas only. For other immigration related questions, please go to our forums home page, find the related forum and post it there.

A question of finances and location

Cash?? What's that? Always use out debit card here in the uk. Takes the cash straight out our accounts. Never carry cash on us at all.
 
Pickles said:
Cash?? What's that? Always use out debit card here in the uk. Takes the cash straight out our accounts. Never carry cash on us at all.
Click to expand...

Yeah ok - then that will work - but as Susie mentioned there are CCs that have cashback of at least 1%. Why not use it (especially as the Discover card is one of the easier cards to get).

By the way - "chip and Pin" is relatively new in the USA. The banmking system is at least 10 to 15 years behind UK and Technology in general is harder to roll out with such a large country. Cell phones are the same thing...
 
Chip and pin? Dude now you're behind. Don't tell me they don't have touch in?? We pay by tapping our debit cards against the reader. No pin at all. There's a max amount you can pay using this method but for most day to day things it suffices. Even works on buses and tubes now. Oysters are being phased out probably.
 
Britsimon said:
Don't forget, you probably can't win an argument over your issue so "subtle persuasion" is what you need - almost making it a non issue.

Comments like "I didn't know what documents you would need so I just bought joint credit card statements going back two years in case you need to see financial paperwork. Oh and I have a joint bank account too where we have our savings. Oh and apartment rent agreements for the last three years" and so on... And say all that with the demeanor of a simple boy straight of the farm in South Africa (as opposed to some smartypants who "lawyered up" expecting an argument).

Just how I would play it...
Click to expand...

Thanks - I will definitely take that into account. Actually, it's my wife who is the principal applicant (I think that most important details got lost somewhere). So she will have to do the explaining (although it was me who actually entered the edv).
 
Pickles said:
Chip and pin? Dude now you're behind. Don't tell me they don't have touch in?? We pay by tapping our debit cards against the reader. No pin at all. There's a max amount you can pay using this method but for most day to day things it suffices. Even works on buses and tubes now. Oysters are being phased out probably.
Click to expand...

Yeah that is coming in now. Slowly.
 
bazsouthafrica said:
Thanks - I will definitely take that into account. Actually, it's my wife who is the principal applicant (I think that most important details got lost somewhere). So she will have to do the explaining (although it was me who actually entered the edv).
Click to expand...

My wife was the principal also. She barely spoke during our interview - so you might be doing some the talking...
 
Pickles said:
Cash?? What's that? Always use out debit card here in the uk. Takes the cash straight out our accounts. Never carry cash on us at all.
Click to expand...

Because credit cards offer greater protection to the purchaser than debit cards, and you get cash back on the right ones.
I'm not paying any fees on my current card and getting 1-1.5% cash back. In SA my card fee was included in my account package whether or not I used it, so I used it.
 
Credit cards only offer protection on companies that go bust, for example. So yeah, buying online or airline tickets I agree if its expensive. But we don't pay anything in the way of fees on our British MasterCards. Some do cash back if you're with a random online bank. Personally I prefer a normal mainline bank and screw the cash back. We are with HSBC.
 
Pickles said:
Credit cards only offer protection on companies that go bust, for example. So yeah, buying online or airline tickets I agree if its expensive. But we don't pay anything in the way of fees on our British MasterCards. Some do cash back if you're with a random online bank. Personally I prefer a normal mainline bank and screw the cash back. We are with HSBC.
Click to expand...

Nope. If you buy something say online that turns out not to be what's advertised and the seller does a duck, your credit card co will reverse the transaction. Debit card is like cash, you lost it. Similar story for eg a hotel that takes forever to reverse a hold. Your debit card company won't care, your credit card company will. VISA platinum even offers replacement if you break things within a month of buying them, etc! Then you've got the standard free flight insurance. And so on. Plenty benefits to using credit cards over debit cards.

I've also already got a few hundred dollars cash back in one quarter of using a card ... Nice little benefit :)
 
SusieQQQ said:
Nope. If you buy something say online that turns out not to be what's advertised and the seller does a duck, your credit card co will reverse the transaction. Debit card is like cash, you lost it. Similar story for eg a hotel that takes forever to reverse a hold. Your debit card company won't care, your credit card company will. VISA platinum even offers replacement if you break things within a month of buying them, etc! Then you've got the standard free flight insurance. And so on. Plenty benefits to using credit cards over debit cards.

I've also already got a few hundred dollars cash back in one quarter of using a card ... Nice little benefit :)
Click to expand...


Ahh yes - the joys of those early days here where EVERY time you walk into a store you walk out with a minimum $500 receipt...
 
Britsimon said:
Ahh yes - the joys of those early days here where EVERY time you walk into a store you walk out with a minimum $500 receipt...
Click to expand...

Actually I didn't have a US credit card then yet and all the big furniture purchases went on my debit card :( Would have made a fortune in cash back.
 
SusieQQQ said:
Actually I didn't have a US credit card then yet and all the big furniture purchases went on my debit card :( Would have made a fortune in cash back.
Click to expand...

Damn! I should have come with you - we could have used my cards and had a nice meal on the cashback!!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top