Charge card - basically, at the end of the month, you're billed for everything you spent during that period, except for anything bought on an installment plan (in that case, you just pay the monthly installment amount). I definitely recommend going this route. For example, let's say you spent $667 and then grabbed some shoes for maybe $500 using a 3-month interest-free installment plan. Your credit card bill at the end of the month would be $833.
Revolving card - the amount you charged to the card during the month gets billed as a percentage that you chose when you signed up. That percentage varies from bank to bank, but it's usually as low as 5% or $67. Of course, you can always choose to pay a larger chunk, like 25%. Honestly, these cards make it way too easy to get into debt, and the interest rates can be pretty brutal (again, depends on the bank). Using the same example as before; you spent $667 + $500 on a 3-month interest-free plan. You opted to pay off 10% of your monthly balance. At the end of the month, you'd owe $233 ($67+ $167 for the installment, since I don't think the revolving feature applies to those specific purchases) plus likely some interest.
Eric Rodriguez31 said:Look, I don't get it. Why is it that banks don't bother securing larger loans—specifically when someone passes away or hits a major health crisis—with life insurance policies? You'd think that would be standard practice. For smaller stuff, like personal loans, they usually cover their tracks through co-signers, collateral, or deposits, eventually coming after the deceased's estate. As an heir, you aren't exactly stepping up to pay off the debt yourself. Sure, you inherit the assets, but if those assets are already being seized by the bank under the enforcement act, you aren't losing your own money; at most, you lose a portion of what was left behind. So, it isn't just "hypothetical." It is entirely possible for me, as an heir, to end up facing a debt from $20 some massive loan if the bank can't recover its funds elsewhere. If that happens, isn't that just a failure in the bank's own risk assessment and their aggressive pushing of products?
Jose Miller3 said:and then you're looking at a situation where the debt actually outweighs the assets, so there's nothing left to inherit anyway...
Hold up, walk me through that.
Say my uncle passes away and he had a mortgage on a condo worth $80,000. Let’s say he fell behind on payments and now the total debt is sitting at $90,000. He leaves the place to me. What happens then? Does the bank just take the condo AND I have to come up with the extra $10,000 out of pocket, or do they just take the property and call it even?
Nicole James said:Are you serious? My Microsoft card from JPMorgan Chase keeps getting declined. I even checked with Goldman Sachs, and they told me the same thing—it just won't go through.
Their cards just don't work online.
Goldman Sachs told me the same thing—it wouldn't work.
🙄 Hard to believe they're that clueless. I use my Visa with both PayPal and eBay without any issues. 😉
The post right above yours lists which ones actually work online...
Bottom line, your best bet is a Microsoft debit card. No sign-up fees or monthly dues—just open a foreign currency account in whatever currency you need, load up some cash, and you're good to go. A Visa Electron from JPMorgan Chase WON'T WORK for online shopping. I've checked, and the ones from Goldman Sachs DO WORK from Goldman Sachs and Bank of America.
Ronald Allen said:Look, sure, plenty of shops offer interest-free financing, but you gotta ask yourself one thing; do you really want to go buying a computer at Walmart, a place that doesn't even bother with quality control and just tosses whatever they have onto the shelves...??? Or maybe at Starbucks, where they keep all their tech gear sitting in some damp, moldy warehouse...???
Look, I only mentioned Walmart as an example of where you can get installment plans. Even if you did go that route, what would you actually end up buying? Some people hate Walmart, some hate Starbucks, others can't stand General Mills... so, yeah...🤷
ironharbor57 said:So, here’s the deal—I have some savings sitting in USD at Chase, and I’m looking to get a card linked to those deposits so I can actually shop online. The teller told me straight up that I could just grab a Visa debit card and use it for web purchases—specifically things like Amazon. But then I started doing a little digging online, and now I'm seeing conflicting info suggesting you can't actually use a Visa debit for online orders, which has left me feeling a bit lost 🤷 If anyone has the patience to walk me through how all these different cards actually work, I’d really appreciate it 🙏
You definitely CAN shop online with an Intel debit card as long as the back of the card (where you sign) has those three digits known as the CVV—most modern cards have them. One thing to watch out for is that some banks (like JPMorgan Chase, for example) issue debit cards that don't play nice with PayPal or certain websites, making them useless for online shopping. I'm not sure about Wells Fargo. I know they work fine with Bank of America and Citigroup.
P.S. Some banks will actually give you real credit cards—Visa or Mastercard—based on your savings balance, and those work perfectly for online shopping. You should ask if that's an option for you. Those would be even better since you could use them to buy things on a payment plan.
ironsurfer10 said:Look, man, your monthly payment might be higher, but have you thought about the interest? My laptop ended up costing me roughly $2667 all in, but the initial sticker price was actually closer to seven thousand dollars...
If I pick one up at Walmart or IKEA, they’ll give you 12 months interest-free if you use an Applebee's card.😉
ironsurfer10 said:Oh man... I bought my last laptop on a three-year payment plan, but the warranty only lasted one year. 😉 If it had died on me, I would have been in a real bind before I even finished paying it off...😉
Honestly, I’d probably just pick one up for... $2000 And if we stretch it to a year, that would put the monthly payment at... $167I don't like it when things get dragged out.
ironsurfer10 said:Exactly. I mean, wasn't that basically the whole point—asking if there's a financing option available?😕 I honestly thought the person was just trying to see if they could pay in installments...🤷
Yeah, you nailed it. I was actually talking about the monthly payments. 😉 Thanks for the heads-up. Looks like I can go ahead and drop some bigger bucks now. 😁 I could probably use a new laptop, too. 😁
Walter Ramirez3 said:Quick question about American Express.
I feel a bit silly starting a new thread now, but I’m hoping someone might actually see this...
So, I have a student credit card that expires this April since it's tied to my standard American Express account. They’ll be sending out the new cards toward the end of March—both the regular one and the student credit card.
As of February 12th, my available credit is at zero, so I can still make purchases, but I was wondering if I could put something on a three-month installment plan? My reasoning is that the third payment would fall in April, right when my new cards arrive.
Does that change anything? I've been trying to call American Express all day, but nobody is picking up the phone. 😠
I reckon you can. Btw, why aren't you in college yet? If you are, just grab a student credit card as your main one—it isn't tied to anything else, and your parents can set the limit. I’ve got one myself (just started freshman year) and my limit is $1667. The annual fee is only $17 a year.
driftingraven53 said:Honestly, all of this is starting to give me a massive headache.😵 Yesterday, I headed over to Bank of America to open a foreign currency account, and I made sure to get a Visa debit card linked directly to it.🙂 As usual, the lady at the branch was perfectly polite and sweet, but she clearly didn't have a clue what she was talking about. I asked her if that Visa card had a CVV code, and she just gave me this blank, confused look.😕I tried explaining that it’s just that three-digit number on the back of the card, but she looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language! She insisted the number was four digits long and located on the front of the card—which was my "aha!" moment where I realized she had absolutely no idea what a CVV even was. I just nodded and said "okay" because there was really no point in arguing with her. Once I got home, I called the Bank of America customer service line to ask about the code, and the operator told me she didn't know either.🤷I had to scramble to come up with an excuse to hang up quickly, but seriously, if you can't get basic information from your own bank, who on earth can you turn to? I see that some people here have dealt with this before, so I have a few questions: 1. From what I’ve been reading in this thread regarding CVV codes, am I correct in thinking that both Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase offer these Visa debit cards for foreign currency accounts that include a CVV, and that I need to maintain a minimum balance of $33 or roughly $15 depending on the account currency? (True/False)
2. Can I receive transfers from various online companies into these accounts (using SWIFT and IBAN) and then withdraw my cash via ATMs or at a bank teller? (True/False)
3. Is PayPal something similar to PayPal? What kind of experiences have you guys had with it, and what exactly does it allow me to do?
4. I read a post once where someone had issues depositing funds into PayPal using a debit card because when they signed up, they entered their name without any special characters (like accents or diacritics)—for example, typing "Stipe Mason" instead of "Stipe Mason." Is that actually a possibility?
I would be incredibly grateful if anyone could give me some straight answers, even if you can only help me out with just one or two of these questions.🙂
Spot on.
driftingraven53 said:Honestly, all of this is starting to give me a massive headache.😵 Yesterday, I headed over to Bank of America to open a foreign currency account, and I made sure to get a Visa debit card linked directly to it.🙂 As usual, the lady at the branch was perfectly polite and sweet, but she clearly didn't have a clue what she was talking about. I asked her if that Visa card had a CVV code, and she just gave me this blank, confused look.😕I tried explaining that it’s just that three-digit number on the back of the card, but she looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language! She insisted the number was four digits long and located on the front of the card—which was my "aha!" moment where I realized she had absolutely no idea what a CVV even was. I just nodded and said "okay" because there was really no point in arguing with her. Once I got home, I called the Bank of America customer service line to ask about the code, and the operator told me she didn't know either.🤷I had to scramble to come up with an excuse to hang up quickly, but seriously, if you can't get basic information from your own bank, who on earth can you turn to? I see that some people here have dealt with this before, so I have a few questions: 1. From what I’ve been reading in this thread regarding CVV codes, am I correct in thinking that both Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase offer these Visa debit cards for foreign currency accounts that include a CVV, and that I need to maintain a minimum balance of $33 or roughly $15 depending on the account currency? (True/False)
2. Can I receive transfers from various online companies into these accounts (using SWIFT and IBAN) and then withdraw my cash via ATMs or at a bank teller? (True/False)
3. Is PayPal something similar to PayPal? What kind of experiences have you guys had with it, and what exactly does it allow me to do?
4. I read a post once where someone had issues depositing funds into PayPal using a debit card because when they signed up, they entered their name without any special characters (like accents or diacritics)—for example, typing "Stipe Mason" instead of "Stipe Mason." Is that actually a possibility?
I would be incredibly grateful if anyone could give me some straight answers, even if you can only help me out with just one or two of these questions.🙂
Yep, exactly.
P.S. Everything you asked is already broken down in the PayPal thread.😉
I posted earlier about how Microsoft charged me $50 on December 28th, even though I never actually spent that money. It’s not showing up anywhere in my PayPal history, but my online banking shows the charge came from a Square terminal. It's weird because it's been ten days and the funds are still marked as pending—meaning they're technically sitting in my account—but normally these things clear in two or three days. I'm honestly stuck on what to do next.😢 It's pretty obvious PayPal is pulling some shady moves here.👎
To shop online using a Visa from JPMorgan Chase, you'll need it linked to a foreign currency account. Opening one is easy—just bring your ID and make sure you're an adult😁. Walk into a branch, tell them you want to open a foreign currency account, pick your currency, sign the paperwork, and you're done. It takes maybe five minutes. Your Visa PIN will show up in your mailbox in about three weeks, which means the card is ready to go. Once you swing by the bank to pick up the physical card, you're all set to start buying stuff. One big thing: always make sure your foreign currency account has at least $33 (or the equivalent in your chosen currency) plus whatever extra you plan on spending online. If you don't, PayPal (or whatever site you're using) is going to decline the transaction and give you that "denied by credit card issuer" error.😉
If you're planning to link that card to PayPal—which most people do—it’s a smart move to sign up for online banking too. It costs about $1.75 a month, but it lets you track your balance, check your transaction history, move money around, or even trade stocks. Most importantly, you can see those four digits PayPal sends to verify your card. Without online access, you'd have to trek down to the bank or wait for a monthly statement just to see them.
Always make sure you have enough $33 (or whatever that equals in another currency) sitting in your account, plus a little extra buffer for what you plan to spend. 😉