Plan Your ATM Visits

[biku324]

Am not claiming to never using a atm, i never have. Also don't have a debit card. Am only 67 years old. I do have a checking account and credit card. Am not in the mood to have a bank charge me for taking my money out, and if the pocket cash runs out i quit spending.

I've used debit cards since they became available where I was living at the time, late 80s. I've never had one cash- or account-related issue with them (early on there were occasionally problems with card readers not working) nor has my wife. She had a problem with a teller at Wells Fargo on a cash transaction, and a $100 error took two weeks and the intervention of the Phoenix security office to fix (EVERYTHING at teller line is videoed).

My credit union never charges withdrawal fees from their machines or other machines within their association.

I've used my debit cards in the US, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, New Zealand, Iraq, Bosnia, Qatar, Jordan, Croatia, UAE, Turkey, and Somalia. I check my bank account daily in 3 minutes online.

 

[.455_Hunter]

I use my ATM card a few times per month, and follow appropriate security precautions. Having someone try jugging on me would be amusing.

 

[chief38]

I have never been to an ATM in my life and don't plan on going. I also do not own (never have) an ATM or Debit card either. Every time I walk into my Bank, (maybe all of 3-4 times a year) they ask me if I'd like one and I politely refuse. When hey ask why I simply state, first off I don't need one, and secondly, debit cards are scanned in peoples pockets every day and compromised. While eventually you will probably get back your money, who needs the hassle to be out in the first place!

I use my Visa Credit Card for 99% of all our purchases these days. The pay me back 4% on Gasoline, 3% on Restaurants, 2% at Costco and 1% on everything else. I probably average around 2 - 2.5% a year and I actually receive a check that I can cash and do what we want with.

If the card is compromised (has happened more than once) they cancel all fraudulent charges immediately, cancel the card and overnight to me (at their expense) two new ones the very next day no matter where we are. I have zero money taken out of our checking account, no hassles and they immediately give me the new account number even before the card comes so it can be used when I hang up the phone.

On the rare occasion someone writes us a physical check, I can easily and instantly deposit it electronically from my phone, no need to go to the bank. There are only a few times when I actually visit the branch at that is when I need to deposit a large check over the electronic limit - not an everyday thing! When I go into the bank, I will make sure I have some cash on hand for emergency situations or to just have on me but honestly, I rarely use cash anymore!

I do also have a bunch of other credit cards that I will use on a rare occasion if it benefits us financially. Sometimes Home Depot offers 20% off when you use a coupon and their own card. Sometimes my wife gets similar deals at TJX, Belks, etc. but most of the time we just use our Visa. So that's my reason I have never needed a ATM or Debit card - just no reason too. I don't concern myself with what the interest rates are because I never pay any interest. My bills get paid electronically on autopay so there are never any late or interest payments - so no concerns to us there.

My recommendation is to find alternate methods of payment and forget ATM's. Most businesses today don't even want cash! Go figure!

 

[rosewood]

That’s how the wife and I handle ATM’s. She withdraws and I keep a look out. Mostly be cause I always carry and I’m technically challenged and screw up at the ATM.

The gun just has 1 button to operate.

 

[rosewood]

Crime is online too...............

Bet there is more money stolen by online fraud/credit card fraud/Debit card fraud than ever stolen by perp at ATM.

Not to mention, there is a digital track record every where you swipe your card. Not so much with cash.

Rosewood

 

[rosewood]

I use the drive thru ATMs. Pull up as close as possible. Only have that 1 window down. Pull out pistol to keep it handy. Leave vehicle in drive with foot on brake in case I need to run someone down..

Put up card and money before I move vehicle.

Rosewood

 

[Greyman50]

ATMs are Convenient. Just about every time we go inside one of our CU branches there is a Line of up to 10 people some times less but why wait? Seems some “ individual” is at the tellers window with some convoluted issue that they should go to a specialist desk. Most are just running their mouth preventing others from their transaction.
Common courtesy and thinking about someone OTHER than themselves is sadly about gone from society.

 

[Yaworski]

Back in the early 80s, someone said to me, "Some day you'll be able to use your Mastercard at McDonald's to buy a cup of coffee." I thought that was an absurd I idea. I still do because I use my Discover card.

I used to carry my checkbook in my back pocket for large purchases or if I was short of cash. Cards were for major purchases like a new suit or a sofa.

I do feel sorry for the merchants who get hammered with credit card fees but I use the card out of convenience. I understand all about inflation it is inflation that has made cash so inconvenient because I can only fit so much cash into my wallet.

When I was young, I could fill up my car with a $20 and get $5 in change. Now is takes over $60 to fill up my tank. Back then a couple twenties in my wallet and I was good to go: gas, lunch, a six pack, etc. Now a couple twenties is gone in a heartbeat.

Of course the government doesn't make it any easier. The $100 bill has the buying power that a $20 had when I was young. Now the $100 is the biggest bill, the $500 should be reintroduced but they are "worried about drug traffickers." How much of our lives is being driven by the unwinnable war on drugs? I view it as just a ruse to control the people.

Credit cards allow you to fall into a financial trap very easily. If you live on a cash basis and you're wallet is empty when you want to buy a cup of coffee, you don't get the coffee. With a card, the impulse buy is much easier.

I had a customer who had at least twenty different bank cards in her purse. She was sorting through them saying, "That one's full, that one's full . . . " I can't imagine how much debt she was carrying.

 

[zeke]

Fortunately there are a lot of options, as we all have differing circumstances. Am living in a small city (2600?), and the bank employees know who i am, and my dogs name. Can easily walk to the bank if need be, and rarely have to wait in line. Have no need for debit card or visit to ATM. However, when banks decide to limit my options based on the specific needs of a subset or to gain more control, am gonna object. Am slowly adapting to big city ways, as a credit card is real handy at gas stations, getting my meds mailed direct and buying reloading supplies or other items not available locally.

Different strokes for different folks.

 

[Mr. Vito]

My bank reimburses me for the fees charged by ATM's, as long as I don't use those ATM's more than a certain number of times a month (not sure what that number is but its never an issue for me). There is an ATM in the supermarket that we shop in regularly, so rather than drive to the bank to use their machine, I use the one which is discreetly situated in the supermarket. Whether or not I have used the ATM, I am always trying my best to be situationally aware when I leave any store to walk to my car. So far I've never had any problem and I am ALWAYS armed (I prefer pocket carry, and that allows me to have my hand on my gun in my pocket which would allow a very fast draw. If I am walking toward my car I almost always have my hand in my right front pocket, ready to draw if needed.)

 

[GeoJelly]

Long time, no see, Captain! I have used the newish BofA ATM down by Target (monthly) for a couple of years now with no problems. What I really like about that ATM is I can circle around and scope the situation before I stop and get out of the Hudson. Except for the car wash, I avoid any of the businesses down on US 1 because of the plethora of undesirables hanging around down there. Of late, I almost always carry my little Keltec P32 when I’m going into hostile territory - even a mouse gun is better than a sharp stick!

 

[BKLooney]

One hand operating the machine, the other resting on whatever I am carrying, head on a swivel, always.

 

[Marshal Tom]

In my little town, I go to the ATM a lot but it is always during the daylight hours. I get out of my car rather than doing the stuff out the window. I feel trapped while in the car and not as able to move if I had too. I am always armed and have my head on a swivel.

 

[haywood]

I just realized, spending the winter in Florida is like awareness training for me. In Ohio I am mostly in the suburbs. Not as crowded as beach cities where we stay. At home I stay alert but, it’s not that crowded. Reading this thread also is a great reminder. When in the City and crowded areas it’s a constant reminder to have head on swivel and hand in pocket on gun. I also carry my wallet in cargo pockets instead of my back pocket. It just comes natural to stay alert now. It’s also entertaining to see all the different people. When I go home the “training” is remembered in day to day CCW.

 

[skwchock]

I go inside to the teller to bank.

 

[max503]

Here they don't rob you at the ATM. They follow you to a place that is less public.

What is jugging? Cash carriers need to know about this rising crime to stay safe

Thank you this is good to know.

 

[ladder13]

In my little town, I go to the ATM a lot but it is always during the daylight hours. I get out of my car rather than doing the stuff out the window. I feel trapped while in the car and not as able to move if I had too. I am always armed and have my head on a swivel.

If using a machine, which is rare, I only go during daylight business hours.

I don’t like sitting at a machine even though I have gotten so close a credit card couldn’t fit between us.

But what about the front, back and passenger side? Hard to keep my gun ready when punching in numbers and removing cash as it only takes a split second for some creep to run out da bushes.

 

[Smoke]

The last time I went to an ATM was when my wife and I bought our current car and that was several years ago.

We just don't really have a need for a lot of cash. Every 2 months or so I will go to my bank and get $30 in fives for tipping the guy that delivers our groceries and that's just about the only actual cash we use. The primary reason that I go into the bank for that is because you can't tell the ATM to give you your cash in all fives. Also my bank is usually empty, so I go right to the front of the line.

I find it much easier to just do my shopping with the bank card.

 

[Warren Sear]

There are some weird, paranoid dudes on this forum.

 

[biku324]

The last ATM crime for which I have actual knowledge was in early 2020 in Doboj, Republka Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Russian gangsters slipped a purpose-built electronic device into the ATM card slot and completely drained the machine. They were back in Russia before the larceny was discovered.