Does anyone use LevelUp or other forms of payment besides cash and credit/debit cards? Where do you use these and do you find them to be convenient and secure? Any drawbacks I should know about? I understand the LevelUp bundles your transactions so that they only pay one "swipe" fee (like iTunes does) and that might be annoying depending on how long they wait to process a transaction. I don't eat out often, but I am working in downtown Boston right now and there are a lot of great, small food vendors and shops near my office that seem to prefer LevelUp and other forms of payment, presumably for the lower transaction costs vs. using debit or credit cards. And oddly, there are some vendors that don't accept cash!
Thanks for any info!
I've never tried the payment apps, but I can totally understand street vendors not accepting cash. Having large amounts of cash on them makes them prime targets for robbery.
It sounds all very convenient but I'd have trust issues about how secure my data was.
while i understand how vendors don't want the vulnerability of cash, i myself am squiffy about the vulnerability of my data, and am not one bit comfortable with the phone apps.
but then, i'm a dinosaur.
sigh.
khairete
S. (who wants a return to barter)
I do not use any payment apps or anything like that on my IPhone. I won't sign onto banking with my phone.
I do not trust the security settings and it is just too big of a risk for me to expose my personal and business banking on my phone. I online bank all the time but ONLY from my laptop. I also use the deposit system (the machine like the tellers use at the bank) from the bank where I scan and auto deposit checks from home for our business accounts.
We've experienced fraud before and it is not easy tracking down the culprit when bank account has been compromised. We use credit cards where everything is traceable (good for business purposes as well) and they are paid in full each month.
I completely understand your point and a vendor's point of not wanting cash on hand. My daughter uses her debit card and she does use the Starbucks app to pay for her Starbucks habit.
Good luck to you!
Sorry, I have no personal experience to share.
I am very wary (probably due to extremely limited funds...)
But I 'like' cash! In my small town I can take care of bills cash only during the course of my shopping...and *I* like it that way! I would probably pay in gold if I could...just to be sure.
Will look forward to responses though!
I can see vendors not wanting cash, actually - it makes them targets for muggings. And it gives them one more thing to do at the end of the day, too - finding a night depository.
I haven't used any of the ones you mention. My son is a big user of Venmo - the 20-somethings use it all the time to pay each other back for someone who picked up the lunch tab or to pay for gas or any other form of cost sharing. Much easier/faster than writing checks and waiting for them to clear.
And I do think it's natural for businesses (especially smaller ones with lower priced items and a small profit margin) to rebel against the big mark-ups on fees. It used to be that American Express was the prestige credit card and restaurants/stores were honored to display that signage. Now everyone's outrages at the fees and vendors are posting up front that they don't accept AE at all. So I think technology allows a lot of stores to participate in a backlash against Visa and Mastercard as well.
My older daughter likes to use Venmo so I use it with her. The thing I hate about it is it posts what you sent and the little message. So I sent my daughter tuition money and my cousin liked it, kind of annoying. That and it makes me wonder if people see it and make assumptions.
My issues I am sure. The transfer of money is secure though
I only use applepay. It's attached to my credit cards (not bank account), so there is an extra layer of security. No one has access to my bank account through this. They can only charge to my credit card (thru a temporary one time use identifier that apple pay assigns). So if I use it at say, McDonald's. If McDonald's data is breached, they won't have my card information.
I live in a small town so there isn't much in the way of innovation here when it comes to payment options. Applepay at a few vendors (one of the grocery stores I shop), Starbucks has their own app (I don't use it) and lots of gas stations have a card/app that access your bank account directly (similar to Target's redcard that debits your bank account directly) and I refuse to sign up for any of those.
I mostly use credit cards. I earn cash back rewards for everything I spend (including some household bills, like cell phone service) and don't pay any interest b/c we pay everything in full every billing cycle.
I do like Applepay, though, and really wish more vendors would move towards offering it.
