MONEY MATTER QUESTIONS

[Colliemom]

I'm as you know, kicking around selling my house doing some travelling, probably not full time but part time. (those are famous last words I know ). There are a lot of things to think about of course, when one does this. I have pretty well got the medical issues part figured out, but what I was wondering is. When you are out traveling for a long length of time, how do you handle the money situation. One has a charge card and that can be used to cover a lot of things. But what do you do when you need some cold hard cash? A lot of banks charge if you cash a check and are not a customer of their bank, debit cards are okay, but they sometimes are not accepted, ATM cards can only go so far cause you have to find that certain ATM machine. Do you maintain an account with a bank or credit union or something someplace?

[Echo]

WalMarts and grocery stores.

Whenever you buy something at a WalMart using your debit card it always gives you the option of "cash back". Same thing with grocery stores. I've gotten a $100 back at WalMart just by buying a pack of gum or mints.

Works for me! LOL

[Bethers]

You got a very concise answer on ORS - and Echo hit the fine points on getting cash back here.

[avalen]

I use a bank that has branches nationwide and most of my bill paying is
done through the website. And like Echo, I do a little cashback when
I do groceries, but not much, otherwise it spends too fast.

[Birdie]

Credit Unions have very unique networks that don't charge for ATM transactions. Then you have to decide if you want an ATM cash only card or a debit card that you can use to buy with in addition to making cash withdrawals at an ATM. You have to be careful about over drawing your account - like a bank I hear they stick it to you when you get careless. I haven't experienced that yet, and certainly hope I don't get that opportunity.

In addition, they have share deposit making. You just need to find one that is near your then current location that does share deposits. You can have relationships with lots of Credit Unions and they may all be a bit different. Most of them also do payments either automatically, or manually that depends on how you want to set it up. Some of them can actually get your statement amount for you and e-mail you that they have it. Others are not that sophiscated yet. I no longer utilize a 'bank' but use 3 different credit unions (I don't pay fees to them they pay interest to me).

[mtngal]

Lots of good info here and at OARS. Like others I have done
all my banking online for years. I use bill pay through my bank.

My suggestion is to make the transition in stages. Maybe change
over a couple bills, then wait a couple months to transfer
couple more. This will give you a chance to get a feel for
how it works. I have a couple companies still sending me
paper bills, need to change those and I will be completely
paperless

(btw, several are set up as auto pay, that's even better)

Oh, one other thing... I keep a list of names, account numbers,
etc. for my DD in case she needs to take over for me.