On 2016-01-07 7:54 AM, Nancy Young wrote:

> Unless someone has used my credit card who it not authorized,
> I'm never surprised at the end of the month. That's only happened
> once. That I could straighten out without a hassle and without
> the funds disappearing from my checking account, the way it goes
> for debit card users.

The only surprises I have had lately were on charges I made in
California and discovered I have been gouged on the exchange rate. We
were there with a friend we were visiting in Palo Alto and it was a
short drive from her place. I bought an $85 sweater and a $15 cap. When
the bill came there was a charge for a little over $150 at a place
whose name I did not recognize in a place called Mountainview. I have
to go rummaging through bills and when I found the one from REI I
immediately recognized the purchases, and then consulted Google Maps and
saw that Mountainview was the municipality in which the store was located.

>
> Of course, people who don't handle credit well are better off
> with a debit card, but that's another subject.
>

Some people do not. My son ended up in credit card debt and it was tough
for him to pay it off. I could have helped him out but I hoped that he
would learn from a hard lesson. I have known a few people who owed so
much on their cards that they had a rough time each month coming up with
the minimum payments. Personally, I have a newspaper subscription,
telephone and satellite bills that I pay by credit card. I occasionally
make telephone or online purchases by card. Other than that I usually
only use credit cards for something big that I can pay off with money
due in soon. Christmas is an expensive time so I pay about half the
present purchases by card and pay it off in January.