Finances while on the road

So you prefer actual mugging in a truck stop parking lot as opposed to the extremely unlikely scenario of identity theft with a card?

 

Had the problem once - called to a CSR rep sorted it out ever since. I also call them in advance if travelling outside of the country.

I use a credit card for the fraud protection. A debit card is CASH equivalent. A credit card is an AGREEMENT that you will pay the provider.

Denny's in Barstow - the girl engaged us in conversation, and cleverly retained the card. by the time we got to Arizona and called the bank, she had charged over $400 in gas and whatnot. That was the debit card. Getting the money back took over 10 days, and the usual card re-issue. It wasn't an issue, because we're rich truckers with over 3 million in t
hat account, but if we'd been your average wage earner, it could have been missed direct debits and all sorts of problems. No more debit card use.

The Jubitz travel plaza in Portland - girl took the card away from the table, copied the number, and proceeded online shopping a few days later. This time, credit card - cancel - reverse, re-issue - and Visa covers the fraud.

Keep a couple of cards on hand, in case one suffers fraud on the road. I almost never use the debit card. Keep $100 cash for emegencies, tucked away from the $20 odd you may keep for cash tips, etc.

I thought that credit and identity theft was rare - though it was due to my lack of diligence and attention, it does happen.

 

Credit cards are good and all but debit cards work the exact same way. See that little Visa and Mastercard logo on all of your debit cards? Those operate the exact same way your 4.9% APR rated credit card works. Just don't use your PIN. That simple. I'd rather not have debt than have a credit card because I fell for the lie that debit cards don't protect against fraud the same was as an interest laden credit card. Educate yourselves folks. We've been fed far too many lies about debt, credit cards and the FICO score for way too long.

 

Fling-J Haw River NC wont take my Wells Fargo Debit but will take it as credit.

 

None of them do for fuel purchase. I'm in Gretna, NE at the Flying J and tried again yesterday but they don't take debit cards for fuel.

 

That's because most banks put a limit on purchases, using debit, out of your bank account to ~$500 a day. You can have this increased but that's up to your bank as well. I'd be certain when you go to purchase fuel they're putting more than $500 on hold.

 

No, it's Flying J's policy. My daily limit is $2,000 on my card. Their software does not have the ability to accept a pin number when purchasing fuel.