RE: [at-l] $$$ follow up

["L. Parker" <lparker@cacaphony.net>]

> ##### NO!
> One more time:
> "credit" card: credits (adds to) a debt account for which you
> are liable.
> "debit card: debits (takes from) a checking account (yours)
> immediately.
> "ATM" access card: allows you cash management mechanics
> related to your relationship with a bank through an existing
> bank account.

Debit Cards (cards with VISA or MasterCard logos) do not debit your account
immediately. They create a hold on funds availability immediately. The money
does not actually come out of the account until the paperwork clears the ACH
center to which the bank submits it for payment. A debit card WILL NOT
approve for any purchase for an amount greater that that which was
established by the account holder with the bank. This amount may be
different for credit purchases and for cash advances and may have a combined
cap. If you don't believe me, ask your bank officer, NOT a teller. I had to
do this long distance from Maine with the Vice President of the bank as a
result of just the sort of situation we are describing, so I know from
personal, and painful experience what the rules are.

>
> Yes, these things can be combined in 7 different ways,
> working multiple accounts. Yes, your bank can decide to do
> things differently from other banks in *how* it combines, but
> you confuse the detail at your (financial) peril.
>
> Particular to debit cards: you can access the entirety of
> your checking account, all $43,895.00 of it, at any time,
> just as you might with the stroke of a pen on a check,
> including buying that 911 Targa Cabriolet (Midnight Blue)
> you've been lusting after. And that's what makes the
> transactions impossible to "hold" or "reverse" — it is
> immediate access during a purchase, and the money is gone,
> gone, gone, as soon as the purchase goes through. This is one
> of the things that makes your credit card (which accrues
> delays) somewhat riskier for the sponsoring institutions, and
> what adds a point or two to that account balance interest rate.

This CAN be true, if you were foolish enough (and the bank was foolish
enough) to set it up this way, some actually do. Ordinarily, no you CANNOT
get at all of your money unless you are willing to make multiple withdrawals
on different days. This applies for both cash advances and "credit"
purchases. No one in their right mind would set it up this way. Mine
however, was...

>
> Cash withdrawals are an ATM operation, and as previously
> described, are commonly subject to a daily limit.

Again, this is definable by the customer.

Lee I Joe

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