Auto Repair Shops charging 3 to 4 percent extra if you use a card to pay

Back in the GOOD OLE DAYS local banks charged 4.5%+/- for home loans, 6.5%+/- for auto loans and paid 4.5%+/- on pass book savings. These days they are’ just ‘step-n-fetchits’ for conglomerants and charge outrageous fees and penalties to cover overhead. I have savings accounts in 2 banks that not too long ago would have each been considered a fortune. Each savings account has a checking account associated with it that charges me $35month service fee.when the average balance falls below $10,000.

Have you looked into Credit Unions. Been with DCU for over 40 years. Since credit unions are basically OWNED by their members they don’t charge those idiotic fees. I keep enough money in my savings accounts for emergencies. Everything else is with an investment firm which yield better interest.

The online-only banks also pay superior interest rates.
In fact, many/most of them pay higher interest rates than the investment firms do.

It was like that around here when I went to an ATT store to get a new phone. The lady had the audacity to take a tone with me on top of it, then come out the store yelling at me as I roared away. Got a trac phone at the time, I like it just fine.

I’d start looking around. My bank offers free checking if tied to a savings account. They even refund any ATM charges I incur at any ATM. See that $3.50 fee for ATM withdrawal? It gets credited back to my account by my bank…

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In my area, the parking lots of the remaining AT&T stores usually contain only one car. Clearly, it must be the car of the only employee on duty. At the mall, the Verizon & T-Mobile stores always have a few customers, while you could go bowling in the aisles at the AT&T store without hitting anyone.

It appears that you’re not the only person who is avoiding AT&T like the plague.

You seem to have more people taking a tone with you then the average person so you may be the real problem. A simple web search of 10 to 15 minutes would have found a phone and low rates and you would not needed to go anywhere and abuse your vehicle again.

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The standard bank rate for a car loan was 11%. I did pay as high as 18% in the bad old days but gmac was eventually 7.5% and the credit union 3%.

I have four checking accounts at two banks and the credit union. I don’t pay a dime for the privilege. I’ve never heard of a $35 fee for checking. I do pay a dollar a month for a printed statement but $35 is robbery. Check around.

Why would you need a printed statement ? I can see anything I need online . Our Quicken program has all the records I need and be reconciled in minutes.

What is all that work worth to you, or more to the point to a business operator?

Let’s say I run an auto shop, and I have $5000 in sales per day. I’ve negotiated a 2.75% merchant fee with my credit card processor. If everyone pays by credit card, I’m paying $137.50 per day in fees. If everyone pays cash/check, I pay nothing. $137.50/day, $680.00/week, $2500/month.

Remember, that $2500/month isn’t absorbed by my parts suppliers or my labor, it comes directly out of the money that I take home at the end of the month. Would you count out a deposit and go the the bank 3 times a week for $2500/month?

I think every business should choose how they want to operate, but there are numbers of people (very young and very old) who want or need to use cash. When my daughter started middle school she would sometimes hang out with friends after school and want a snack or drink. There’s a sandwich shop nearby but she couldn’t shop there because they were card only and she only had cash. My 81 year old mother still prefers to use cash or check and will sometimes not buy something if it involves the trouble of getting her Visa card out of her purse.

Some places around here require businesses to accept cash:

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I don’t pay a fee for my checking account at Wells Fargo, and I guess that they would probably send me a statement if I paid a fee, but I’m satisfied with accessing it online and printing it.

Surely Rod Knox could find a better deal for his checking account.

Well I’ve gone through two software upgrades this summer from the bank and the credit union. I don’t know who writes this software but a Quick Look on line to see current activity has turned into a 30 minute investigation of the menu. Then log in is prominent but last night could not find the log out button anywhere. So yeah the paper statements are easy to read and scan and worth a dollar.

Now still wating for the 401k paper statement to verify their change in processors. Supposed to be July 1, but we are almost into august.

We went though this conundrum when my kid was really young. Now there are companies addressing this issue- like the Greenlight card and so on. He’s linked into ApplePay account so can pay with his phone. Still keeps some money behind the phone case, just in case…the money he might lose, the phone is part of his anatomy so it’s safe tucked in there :smile:

Maybe so…but who’s going to take that cash to the bank 3 times a week? If you’re the owner/manager, maybe you can do that yourself. But if you’re working on cars…you may not be able to make it to the bank before they close. Or, your time may be more valuable working on cars. You might have to use that $2500 a month to pay a bookkeeper or other trusted individual to take the cash to the bank.

This is definitely a 6 of one, 1/2 dozen of the other-type issue. But as a business owner, the “fee” you’re paying does save on time/energies you could be using elsewhere.

Unfortunately (at least around here), less than half the companies I’ve seen accept apple pay - with Walmart leading the way.

Same here, it’s not as widespread as I would like but all the local shops where they stop to get sodas, donuts and ice cream etc take it so it works for that at least.

How much is your time worth? If you get all payments by check, then you have to cash them and deposit the money in your business account. How much time does it take daily, and what is your personal hourly charge?

Why do you have to cash them to deposit the money ?

Besides, most businesses’ don’t take checks to the bank anymore, They run it through a scanner on their desk and it automatically makes the deposit into their account.

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Yup, we used Electronic Check Conversion, it runs it like a Debit Card basically and the customer gets the check back, no need to make a deposit for the check…

Now some places keep a petty cash amount like $300.00 for example and anything over that $300 at the end of the day is deposited, it can be done anytime during banking hours or wait for it, they have these neat features called Night Drops, the bank does the transaction the next morning, you can go pick up the deposit slip(s) anytime after that during banking hours at your convenience or when you might need some change…

ATT just upgraded me to fiber for free, then supervisor gave us a great deal on cell service. Who goes to stores anymore everything is online.