any one that lets you use any freaking ATM you want to. i have wachovia still and it pisses me off i have to go to a wachovia atm to get money or be charged.

CalvinBall wrote:any one that lets you use any freaking ATM you want to. i have wachovia still and it pisses me off i have to go to a wachovia atm to get money or be charged.

I can't believe anyone stays with a bank that doesn't let you use whatever ATM without charging an additional fee on top of the ATM's fee.

CFP wrote:What's a good credit and/or debit card to go after for a college student? I've never had one before and was wondering what those out there would suggest.

None?

I figured debit cards were pretty much automatic with any bank account these days. Heck, I had an ATM card way back in the 80s when I was in college, but you pretty much could only use it at the bank's ATM Machine.

Debit cards and credit card in my view are different from each other. For certain activities, they're pretty interchangeable, assuming you've got the money for what you plan to do. But for a couple of things--car rentals and hotel stays come to mind--you probably want to avoid using a debit card, because even if the room charge is only say $75, they're going to have you pay for "incidentals" like video games, the honor bar, and room damage up front, which at one cheap motel I recently stayed at was $150. The money will be put back in your account, of course. Eventually.

More seriously, being all paternalistic here, I'd go with either a pre-paid deal, or one with a small credit line like $1000, where even if you foolishly max it out you're not in a huge financial hole.

Also, there's no reason to get a card that has any kind of annual fee attached, no matter what kind of reward program you think you're getting. You shouldn't be charging so much that the rewards amount to much anyway.

people say we monkey around

My mom woke me up at 7:15 this morning because the side gate was open so our dogs got out when she let them out into the backyard. I was up till about 4:30 reading last night because I couldn't sleep, and am quite tired at the moment. Also I do not have the joys of fatherhood to counterbalance the sleepiness.

My life is so challenging. I think I might take a nap.

Originally Kelis was supposed to be on Fallon last night but she got stuck in Miami so Squeeze replaced her. But all the kids behind the stage were there to see Kelis so they had no idea what was going on.

The piano solo in "Pulling Mussels From the Shell" was performed on an iPad.

I can tell I'm in baseball mode when it starts pouring out and my first thought is wonder if they're going to play tonight. Second thought being oh crap this sports day blows I forgot.

Third thought is if this keeps up I might need to build an ark.

TenuredVulture wrote:

CFP wrote:What's a good credit and/or debit card to go after for a college student? I've never had one before and was wondering what those out there would suggest.

None?

I figured debit cards were pretty much automatic with any bank account these days. Heck, I had an ATM card way back in the 80s when I was in college, but you pretty much could only use it at the bank's ATM Machine.

Debit cards and credit card in my view are different from each other. For certain activities, they're pretty interchangeable, assuming you've got the money for what you plan to do. But for a couple of things--car rentals and hotel stays come to mind--you probably want to avoid using a debit card, because even if the room charge is only say $75, they're going to have you pay for "incidentals" like video games, the honor bar, and room damage up front, which at one cheap motel I recently stayed at was $150. The money will be put back in your account, of course. Eventually.

More seriously, being all paternalistic here, I'd go with either a pre-paid deal, or one with a small credit line like $1000, where even if you foolishly max it out you're not in a huge financial hole.

Also, there's no reason to get a card that has any kind of annual fee attached, no matter what kind of reward program you think you're getting. You shouldn't be charging so much that the rewards amount to much anyway.

With the new credit card reform, they've also taken away a lot of those "sign up for a new credit card!" flyers that were all over college campuses and getting kids in financial trouble before they had their degree. CFP, you should be able to get a basic credit card with no annual fees from Citizens Bank or any of the other local banks. If you have zero or awful credit history, they also have those secured credit cards where you have to pay some money ahead of time or have it linked to a savings account...

I have a $31,000 balance on my college MBNA card, but no one can ever take that Fran Ganter beer coozy away from me

TenuredVulture wrote:

CFP wrote:What's a good credit and/or debit card to go after for a college student? I've never had one before and was wondering what those out there would suggest.

None?

I figured debit cards were pretty much automatic with any bank account these days. Heck, I had an ATM card way back in the 80s when I was in college, but you pretty much could only use it at the bank's ATM Machine.

Debit cards and credit card in my view are different from each other. For certain activities, they're pretty interchangeable, assuming you've got the money for what you plan to do. But for a couple of things--car rentals and hotel stays come to mind--you probably want to avoid using a debit card, because even if the room charge is only say $75, they're going to have you pay for "incidentals" like video games, the honor bar, and room damage up front, which at one cheap motel I recently stayed at was $150. The money will be put back in your account, of course. Eventually.

More seriously, being all paternalistic here, I'd go with either a pre-paid deal, or one with a small credit line like $1000, where even if you foolishly max it out you're not in a huge financial hole.

Also, there's no reason to get a card that has any kind of annual fee attached, no matter what kind of reward program you think you're getting. You shouldn't be charging so much that the rewards amount to much anyway.

Pretty good advice I think. One good reason to get a credit card while in school is that it's dead easy, and not easy at all for someone right out of college unless you have a really good job, particularly if you have loans. And it's really hard to build credit without credit cards.

But unless you're much more disciplined than I was, what I would recommend is that you get a card and lock it the hell up. If the CC company threatens to close the account because of inactivity, use it to charge something inexpensive that you were going to buy anyway, pay the bill when it comes, and then lock the card the hell up again. Once you're out of school and start having to pay your own bills you can get the CC out of cold storage and use it.

Maybe it's not so easy anymore.

Grotewold wrote:I have a $31,000 balance on my college MBNA card, but no one can ever take that Fran Ganter beer coozy away from me

I applied for a Phillies Mastercard. They sent me a lame one with a boat on it instead. I was pissed.

almost time for randomy thoughts

I would like Random Thoughts IV: The Quest for Peace

RANDOM THOUGHTS 4 PEACE SELLS BUT WHO'S BUYIN' METTTTTALLLLLLLLLLLLL

Tiggerhawk is 80?! Or close to it?!

Random Thoughts: Explosive Verbal Diarrhea

RANDOM THOUGHTS INNN SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE