Consumers starting to shy away from debit and credit cards, moving back to cash

Monday, October 17, 2011, 10:20 AM

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Americans' love affair with credit and debit cards may be coming to an end, which means cash could soon be king again.

It's been a decade since fast-food restaurants started accepting credit and debit cards, and consumers started swiping plastic more often than they were writing checks.

It had gotten to the point where many of us marveled at how little cash we carried.

Life has changed -- dramatically. Consider:

More....
http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2011/10/consumers_starting_to_shy_away.html

Paying slowly beforehand instead of paying credit cards over time goes hand in hand with the trend towards cash.

What's old is new again!

I did my Christmas shopping in January and put the expensive stuff on layaway, took it home as I paid it off, wrapped it, and was ready for Christmas before Thanksgiving, usually.

A lot of stores stopped offering layaway because they didn't have the space to hang on to your stuff-- but that was mostly big chain places. Small locally-owned stores were the last to give up on it. I'm thrilled it's making a comeback!

My mother used to buy our winter coats on layaway. She'd go to Powers in the spring and make us try on the sale coats, and pick out one that was big for us and put the money down. We'd collect them in September or October. Powers was expensive but their stock was generally superior, so it helped her feel like she was getting us "the good stuff."

Yay layaway! I'd give in and buy a flat-screen teevee if I could put it on layaway. As it is, I'll stick with the bulky old flickery picture tube a little longer.

wistfully,
Bright

I think I remember where you live so I checked their site for stores in your state where Best Buy offers it. Respecting your privacy, here's the basic page where you can check for yourself if you get the yen for that new tv.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Layaway/BestBuy/pcmcat203100050023.c?id=pcmcat203100050023&DCMP=rdr0002207

Btw, Sears and KMart also have layaway and you know how Sears carries so much.

I'm doing the same thing now, although I should probably do it on a Monday so I can't blow it all over the weekend. ;-)

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it is easier to control my spending and causes me to make less frivolous buys. Now I save for something and if I really want it after saving the money, I buy it. I have found though that 99% of the time, I end up not buying what I saved for and keeping the money for something else I've decided to save for. So I don't spend much and found many things that I thought "I just have to have" I didn't have to have after all.

I take cash out at once from any checks I get and spend it as cash. I had to do this to avoid the creative programming by CitiBank where they take out charges before including deposits, whether they were cash deposits or not. And they delay ACH transactions to make the most of causing fees, so I don't use ACH any more. It's cash all the way baby! And I know exactly how much money I have... I look in my wallet... it is so old school it actually works well!

It's just too easy to lose track of your spending when all you're doing is swiping a card. Actually handing over cash to somebody and seeing it disappear from your wallet really brings it home what you're doing. I am always aware of how much I've spent every month and how much I have left - something I could never manage when I just used a card. Plus, it's nice to buy things off the radar. No reason for the credit card companies or the bank to know what I spend my money on.

Both my and my husband's employers do not issue checks, only direct deposit into a bank. They do not even give you a paper payroll stub. You need to go online to see your pay stub. So, if you have your money deposited in a bank, how do you get your CASH? You go to a teller, you pay a fee. You go to an ATM machine, you pay a fee. What do you do? Sometimes I think they have some hidden agreements with banks.

You have to have a credit or debit card. I live in a little town and the only way I can get my shoes (women's size 12N is very hard to find) is to use a debit card.