Banking - the differences btween Canada and USA

[Clevername]

if you use cards THEY can track you.

[Starwolfe]

Debit cards are indeed popular in Canada, but that's just proof that most people don't realize how horrible that is. Why would anyone in their right mind use a debit card instead of a credit card which offers rewards or cashback? I mean, I'm Canadian and I cringe every time I see someone use a debit card.

But as the poster above me said, these things are also popular in the U.S.

I receive cash back and rewards for using my USAA Debit Card card as credit , it has a MasterCard logo on it which allows me to use it as debit or credit. It takes it straight out of my checking account. If the money isn't there, it won't charge. The same works for my Paypal Business Debit card, which also has a MasterCard logo on it.

[Slanderize]

Look, it all depends on the type of job you have in the end. Where you're cashing your checks, where you're doing your banking.

Now that I'm a grown ass man married to a woman that civilized me in the name of our children, we do a lot of online payments, because we have debit cards and can just sit and do our online banking. Everything but the water bill is paid through online banking, EVERYTHING. The only reason the water bill isn't paid through online banking is because our city doesn't allow it.

Now, before all that wondrous evolution of man when I was but a single lad... I cashed my checks at the gas station. I'd put some money into a bank if I wanted something online, but most of my cash I kept on me at any given time. I paid most of my bills through City Hall, and a local grocery store handled the utilities... cable, electricity, internet... everything I used at that time.

Such is the way of things.

In today's world I PayPal people back and forth, my wife does the same. It's a totally different world. It's all about how you handle your banking, where you cash your checks, and where you go. America just has a LOT of kooky options as far as handling your money goes.

[Tyrianth]

I receive cash back and rewards for using my USAA Debit Card card as credit , it has a MasterCard logo on it which allows me to use it as debit or credit. It takes it straight out of my checking account. If the money isn't there, it won't charge. The same works for my Paypal Business Debit card, which also has a MasterCard logo on it.

Canada doesn't really have those credit issued debit cards though. As far as I'm aware only one bank in Canada issues those (which is CIBC). And they are next to useless because canada doesn't have the infrastructure to use them as credit. I can use it online but I can't use it as credit in a store.