watched an interesting transaction in my supermarket

[p911dad]

I was waiting in the express line in my local Publix supermarket. Just in front of me a young man was repeatedly paying for one item with a single credit card, collecting cash and then doing another and another and another single item transaction. The items were 2 candy bars and 2 bags of chips. He walked out with about $400. in cash and the 4 items.
I asked the checker what was going on, and she told me you can get up to $100. cash on any good credit card transaction per transaction, no questions, no id required. She said it was odd but happens occasionally. I asked if the card could have been not his, and she said they don't normally ask for id (que the eye roll). I'm thinking this is how a stolen card is used quickly and then dumped.

Have any of you ever seen something like this happen? Maybe I lead a sheltered life but I have never seen something like this.

[Jay Auskin]

I can't believe each of those credit card companies didn't flag it, and deny the transaction. Unless...it was truly their card and do it on a regular basis?

[911 Rod]

I had my Credit card compromised once and they ran around and bought $95 worth of gas.

[stevej37]

Never seen that exactly...but I use my cc all the time for cash at the grocery store.
Much easier than going to an atm.
Usually $20 or $50 each time.
No interest or service charge because I pay it off each month.

[masraum]

It could absolutely have been that it was the guy's card and he need/wanted >$100 in cash, so chose to do it that way because when you purchase something, there's no service fee. That wouldn't surprise me at all.

I very, VERY rarely need/use cash, but when I do, if I use an ATM, I will max out the amount of cash that I pull. If I pull $20 and they charge me $4 or I pull $400 and they still charge me $400, I'd rather pay the lower percentage. Then I hang on to the extra for a rainy day.

Or it could have been stolen.

[Jay Auskin]

Originally Posted by masraum

It could absolutely have been that it was the guy's card and he need/wanted >$100 in cash, so chose to do it that way because when you purchase something, there's no service fee. That wouldn't surprise me at all.

I very, VERY rarely need/use cash, but when I do, if I use an ATM, I will max out the amount of cash that I pull. If I pull $20 and they charge me $4 or I pull $400 and they still charge me $400, I'd rather pay the lower percentage. Then I hang on to the extra for a rainy day.

Or it could have been stolen.

Same here. I realized a month ago when I went to get some cash my ATM card expired in July. OOPS!

I guess the cash back from a credit transaction would be fine too. I pay mine off every month.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Jay Auskin

Same here. I realized a month ago when I went to get some cash my ATM card expired in July. OOPS!

I guess the cash back from a credit transaction would be fine too. I pay mine off every month.

Sometime in the past couple of year, I got a note from my credit union that I needed to use my card or it was going to expire without them sending me a new one. I used it and they sent me a new one.

I mostly use it at one store that charges less if you pay cash or debit. I don't spend that much there, but it galls me to pay more for using a credit card.

[Baz]

That sounds really fishy. I don't see any safe guards in place at all - except if the card gets called in as stolen.

You would think there'd be some kind of daily limit at least. Or requirement to show ID after the first one goes through.

[plain fan]

I have friends that had to do the exact same thing because there were no banks or ATMs for their financial institution. They never did that amount of money, it was always under $100 and just for what they needed. They now have two ATMs in a reasonable distance from them if they ever need cash.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Baz

That sounds really fishy. I don't see any safe guards in place at all - except if the card gets called in as stolen.

You would think there'd be some kind of daily limit at least. Or requirement to show ID after the first one goes through.

Most cards do have a daily limit. Although I'm not sure if the CC co sees these as cash transactions or not. You would think they would, but I don't know.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by plain fan

I have friends that had to do the exact same thing because there were no banks or ATMs for their financial institution. They never did that amount of money, it was always under $100 and just for what they needed. They now have two ATMs in a reasonable distance from them if they ever need cash.

Yep, I've been here 25 years and we've only had branches with ATMs in the for the past 1-2 years. Even then, I don't normally go near/past any of them which isn't an issue since I so rarely get cash. If I need cash, I'll just bite the bullet and get some from a regular bank and pay the fee.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by p911dad

Have any of you ever seen something like this happen?

Not exactly. Seems like every month I end up making a bunch of small purchases with MrsWD's debit card. We each have checking accounts that pay 3% interest on balances up to $25,000 IF you use their debit card 12 times a month. She often forgets to check the card usage and I end up running out to buy candy bars.

[stevej37]

^^^ So...the 3% you saved, ends up in the dentists pocket?

[RWebb]

is there a fee for the cash-back transaction to the card holder?

[p911dad]

Originally Posted by RWebb

is there a fee for the cash-back transaction to the card holder?

I don't know, I have never used this cash back transaction in Publix. I was just amazed as he kept plugging away, 2 candy bars, 2 bags of chips.

[MBAtarga]

Have you ever heard of manufactured spend? It's a means of charging a credit card to accumulate points to meet the minimum required purchases - for example in the first 90 days of issue. Visa/Mcard may offer a new cardholder 20,000 miles if they spend $3k in the first 3 months. You go out and "purchase" groceries every week as above in the first post - getting a couple hundred bucks in your pocket each trip. You deposit the money in your bank and when the charge card bill shows -you've got 99% of the funds required to cover the bill. In 3 months - you really haven't spent but a few bucks - but get mileage credit as if you spent $3k. There are several other means of spending more and getting higher points - check out the reddit forum for more info/ideas: https://www.reddit.com/r/manufacturedspend/

[billybek]

I did three separate transactions in the same store before Christmas and it flagged and asked for a signature on the last one.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by stevej37

^^^ So...the 3% you saved, ends up in the dentists pocket?

Lol. I just used candy bars as an example. it was often beer.

[wildthing]

Originally Posted by Jay Auskin

I guess the cash back from a credit transaction would be fine too. I pay mine off every month.

Check your CC policy on cash advances. There may be charges right as you get the cash...

[masraum]

Originally Posted by RWebb

is there a fee for the cash-back transaction to the card holder?

Nope it’s fee free to get cash back on a purchase.