DEBIT CARD DEBACLE

I found myself with a couple prepaid debit cards. I can’t complaint – one was a gift card!

I’ve discovered that unless you wipe out the complete value of these cards with one large purchase, using these cards can be a pain. Even if you go to the trouble of tracking your purchases to the penny, you still may not be able to use the card as your expect.

The gas station I went to could not split my gas purchase across two cards. They could take one card and cash, but not two cards. So it was not practical to wipe out the remaining $2.32 balance on my card by buying fuel – I might just as well have paid cash for the while purchase.

I also discovered there is this thing called an “available” balance, which may be less than the actual balance. For example, I had used one of my cards at a restaurant. After I handed the waiter my card, the cashier placed a temporary charge on the card for an amount substantially more than the cost of my meal. Their assumption was that I was going to add a LARGE tip to the charge, rather than tip with cash. They of course corrected that false assumption later, but until the temporary charge went away, there was no way for me to use the complete balance on my card.

So from now on, when I get one of these cards, I am going to use it for groceries. That should eliminate these problems and the card in one shot!