Logistics for Longer Cruises

[wowzz]

1 minute ago, JennyB1977 said:

@wowzz It's funny because she was born in Germany, we lived overseas for years when I was a child and have traveled through Europe. This was back in the era of Traveler's Cheques. My folks have credit cards and my dad is savvy and still does a lot of consulting.  They would be okay, I was pointing out how some folks do a lot of tasks out of habit. 🙂

Totally understand - it's all a matter if custom. Mind you, my 93 year old Mother is a dab hand with her contactless cards!

[clo]

17 hours ago, wowzz said:

Is America the only country in the world that still uses cheques ?

 

We write maybe six a year.  And that's about to go down as I've changed hairdressers and the previous one didn't take CC.  And we'll be getting a new dog groomer and our previous one ditto.  I think our taxes have to be paid with checks.  That's about it.  Neither of us carry one/some with us.

[clo]

17 hours ago, DarrenM said:

All bills are paid by direct debit,

Not credit card?  I don't know how it is outside the US but we get gazillions of travel points by paying every bill possible with the CC.  Any that we can then, yes, debit.

[DarrenM]

4 hours ago, clo said:

Not credit card?  I don't know how it is outside the US but we get gazillions of travel points by paying every bill possible with the CC.  Any that we can then, yes, debit.

Yes I have a credit card but in the uk regular monthly Bill's are paid by direct debit straight from your bank account.

 

It means you never miss a payment and dont have to concern yourself with them.

 

I dont have time or inclination to fathom out how to get points on credit cards or anything like that. 

 

I get it. I might be missing out on some great deals etc but I am not bothered. I have always lived for today and if it means I get to spend more time in the pub that way then I am happy.

 

On the other hand my wife has cards that collect points but everytime she checks the status they are almost worthless. She would need to spend a million to make about £10.

 

I really couldn't be bothered to try.

[wowzz]

14 minutes ago, DarrenM said:

I dont have time or inclination to fathom out how to get points on credit cards or anything like that. 

Darren - CCs in the US are a totally different proposition to the ones offered in the UK. Virtually every card issued in the US seems to be linked to sone sort of points collection system. I have a cash back card that offers 0.5% return, , so normally manage to generate something in the region of £100 - £150 income e very year.

And you are correct - you cannot link a credit card to automatically pay a utility bill, as it is illegal in the UK for companies to keep CC card details on file. 

[DarrenM]

Yep. I dont use my credit card often, so I would be lucky if I got £10 return.

 

Hardly worth the effort.

[wowzz]

26 minutes ago, DarrenM said:

Yep. I dont use my credit card often, so I would be lucky if I got £10 return.

 

Hardly worth the effort.

If you book a £10,000 cruise the cash back becomes useful. 

[DarrenM]

Wouldnt do it though.

 

I book a cruise and pay for it over a period of time.

 

Not disciplined enough to use the credit card and make sure I clear it.

[wowzz]

14 minutes ago, DarrenM said:

Wouldnt do it though.

 

I book a cruise and pay for it over a period of time.

 

Not disciplined enough to use the credit card and make sure I clear it.

No reason not to pay by credit card over a period of time. Plus paying by credit card makes sense when buying anything, as you get much more protection compared to any other payment method.

[DarrenM]

Oh dont get me wrong. I understand the benefits of doing so.

 

I also know my maverick traits would mean I just wouldnt clear the card.

 

Once bitten etc

[SRF]

17 hours ago, Elaine5715 said:

If you have a 20,000 credit limit,  that is what you have. If you add 5,000 in "credit ", you can still only rack up $20,000 on charges, not $25,000

 

Actually you can charge 25,000.  The first 5000 is prepaid.  Then the next 20,000 is your credit line.

[SRF]

On 10/8/2019 at 12:37 AM, FlyerTalker said:

 

Interesting.  I am able, at any time, to review my current and pending charges on ALL of my credit cards. I just log onto my accounts with Amex, BoA, Chase, CapOne and others. So I can "review" them 24/7 and dispute or challenge any charge at any time.

 

Curious about how YOUR credit cards won't allow you to review a bill online before it is time to be paid.  Maybe you have some special card that does things differently.  Perhaps you can warn us about these so that we aren't placed in this difficult position.

 

Others are talking about automatically paying the bills, whether you review them or not.

 

Yes, I can review them at any time.  But I ALWAYS review them prior to setting up payment.  And I do not approve payment without reviewing them.

 

And while I normally pay all in full every month, there are times with large unexpected purchases have me not paying the bill in full.  Normally this is on things like Amazon, where I have 0% interest on larger purchases, so I may float some of that bill to pay fully other accounts that have interest charges.

[wowzz]

3 minutes ago, SRF said:

 

Others are talking about automatically paying the bills, whether you review them or not.

 

Yes, I can review them at any time.  But I ALWAYS review them prior to setting up payment.  And I do not approve payment without reviewing them.

 

And while I normally pay all in full every month, there are times with large unexpected purchases have me not paying the bill in full.  Normally this is on things like Amazon, where I have 0% interest on larger purchases, so I may float some of that bill to pay fully other accounts that have interest charges.

Seems to me that you are making life unnecessarily difficult for yourself.

I never buy anything that I cannot pay off in full when the credit card becomes due, so have no reason to rob Peter to pay Paul.

[DarrenM]

Peter is a good guy. I would rob Paul though. Nasty sort.

[ducklite]

On 10/8/2019 at 3:41 AM, wowzz said:

Why the need to write a cheque - review the bill and then transfer the money electronically?  

Is America the only country in the world that still uses cheques ?

 

I've written 10 this year, and will likely write 2-3 more.

 

We had several small home improvement/repairs done and our handyman doesn't take credit cards.  Neither does our petsitter.  The local tax collector, DMV, and IRS charge a "convenience fee" to use a credit card, so I write a check.  I had to reimburse my employer for some personal expenses that were on a business hotel bill, so that was another check.  I had a couple of donations to local grass roots not for profits who not set up to take donations electronically, so again, I wrote checks.

 

Typically we pay with a credit card or electronic check for everything else.

 

 

[ducklite]

18 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Seems to me that you are making life unnecessarily difficult for yourself.

I never buy anything that I cannot pay off in full when the credit card becomes due, so have no reason to rob Peter to pay Paul.

100% agree! The only debt we carry is a mortgage and soon to be paid off 0% car note.  Our lowest credit line on our cards is $22,000, the highest (and one we use the most often) is $50K.  Typically I go in each week and zero out anything charged to our cards--but I still have them set to pay any balance on the due date each month, just in case.  

[ducklite]

31 minutes ago, SRF said:

And while I normally pay all in full every month, there are times with large unexpected purchases have me not paying the bill in full.  Normally this is on things like Amazon, where I have 0% interest on larger purchases, so I may float some of that bill to pay fully other accounts that have interest charges.

I just had to make a large, unexpected purchase--a new dishwasher.  It set me back $900, but that's what savings are for.  I simply transferred the money into my checking account to cover the charge made to my credit card.  

[Cruiser_1977]

@clo You are able to pay your IRS tax balance via Credit or Debit card. There are almost always fees involved.

[wowzz]

11 minutes ago, ducklite said:

I've written 10 this year, and will likely write 2-3 more.

 

We had several small home improvement/repairs done and our handyman doesn't take credit cards.  Neither does our petsitter.  The local tax collector, DMV, and IRS charge a "convenience fee" to use a credit card, so I write a check.  I had to reimburse my employer for some personal expenses that were on a business hotel bill, so that was another check.  I had a couple of donations to local grass roots not for profits who not set up to take donations electronically, so again, I wrote checks.

 

Typically we pay with a credit card or electronic check for everything else.

 

 

Again, I guess it is a cultural difference between the US and the UK. All the local tradesmen just give me their bank details and I just do an electronic transfer. It costs them money plus inconvenience to cash a cheque, so prefer the electronic method. Government agencies also prefer bank transfers, as do charities.

[DarrenM]

My tax is paid automatically. Never had to worry or care about tax.

[FlyerTalker]

12 minutes ago, DarrenM said:

My tax is paid automatically. Never had to worry or care about tax.

 

Except for what the total is, and how it's being wasted?   🙂

 

That's my regular concern.  Every election.

[DarrenM]

Ah. I get you FlyTalker. And its a great point.

[ducklite]

22 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Again, I guess it is a cultural difference between the US and the UK. All the local tradesmen just give me their bank details and I just do an electronic transfer. It costs them money plus inconvenience to cash a cheque, so prefer the electronic method. Government agencies also prefer bank transfers, as do charities.

Several of the charitable donations I've made a bank transfer wouldn't have helped with.  For example I "sponsored" a child to get a book each month.  I sent the teacher a check made out to the school book program that she then deposited into her classroom account with them.  Had I sent the company an electronic payment they would have had no way of knowing who to credit it to.  

 

In other cases the charity is so small and grass roots that the cost of taking online donations would cut severely into their budget.  

 

Not all charities are large schemes, and not all charitable donations are made to an actual charity, such as the girl I sponsored.  I know nothing about her except she is extremely low income and had no books at home to read.  I'd rather made a difference in a child's life in this manner than donate that money to a large charity paying millions in salaries every year.

[ducklite]

31 minutes ago, DarrenM said:

My tax is paid automatically. Never had to worry or care about tax.

In the US there are many types of taxes, and not all can be paid automatically.

[ducklite]

36 minutes ago, JennyB1977 said:

@clo You are able to pay your IRS tax balance via Credit or Debit card. There are almost always fees involved.

Once you are owing thousands of dollars, that convenience fee begins to add up to a great deal of money.