If you had to fork over $1,000 right now, would you be able to do so without borrowing money or using your credit card? If so, then a new survey from the National Foundation for Credit Counseling says you’re in the minority. [More]
cash
6 Reasons To Live A Cash-Only Life
By 7.8.11
With every story we write about increased credit card fees, slashed rewards programs or hacked bank databases, a growing number of readers have expressed a growing interest in ditching their plastic and going cash-only. [More]
Antique Piggy Bank From eBay Stuffed With $133 In Cash
By 7.7.11
Shawn bought this antique piggy bank on eBay for $13.50. Adorable, isn’t it? What was even more adorable was what he found when he pulled out the original cork: $133 in cash. That’ll do, pig. That’ll do. [More]
Utah Considers Making Gold And Silver Legal Tender
By 3.25.11
Utah’s state house took a step toward allowing gold and silver to be accepted as cash, passing a bill that would recognize government-issued gold and silver coins for not only their face value, but the value given to the items by collectors. If the bill passes, the state would study the idea of establishing an alternative form of currency backed by silver and gold. [More]
Homeless Vet Returns Cash-Filled Wallet To Owner
By 12.16.10
If you ever lose a wallet stocked with cash but no identification, you can probably forget about ever reuniting with it. But a homeless 49-year-old Navy vet in Boston made the near-impossible happen for the bike messenger who lost the precious cargo. [More]
Eat Healthier By Leaving Your Credit Cards At Home
By 10.21.10
In the last few decades, Americans use credit (or debit) cards for more and more of our everyday spending. We’re also, collectively, becoming more and more obese. A group of researchers wondered: is there a correlation here? They conducted four experiments looking at what types of food people purchase when using a credit card, and what they purchase when using cash. They published their findings in the Journal of Consumer Research. The result is not surprising: people are more likely to buy junk food, on impulse, when paying with plastic. [More]
Which Transaction Is Faster For Small Purchases: Cash Or Credit?
By 9.3.10
Since we began writing about credit card companies now allowing merchants to require minimum purchases for credit transactions, we’ve received feedback from readers in both the comments and in the tipline about how credit cards are faster and more efficient than cash. At the same time, there are those who swear by cash when it comes to making purchases of only a few dollars. So which is it? [More]
Government Program Replaces Mutilated Cash
By 8.11.10
Just because your dog mistakes a $100 bill for a chew toy, it doesn’t mean you’re out the cash. You can just take what’s left of your mangled paper and send it to the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing’s Mutilated Currency Division, which will issue you a check for the amount you otherwise would have lost. [More]
Report Says The Poor Subsidize Credit Card Reward Programs
By 7.27.10
A new study from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston says that credit card reward programs have a sneaky hidden cost that the card holder doesn’t have to bear. This occurs because the fee that a retailer pays to run a credit card varies with every card, and reward cards cost more to process–in other words, the card issuer passes the cost of the rewards program on to the retailer. The retailer adapts by raising prices across the board, which distributes the cost of the reward program among all shoppers. [More]
What Would You Do With $20,000?
By 6.18.10
A couple of weeks back, we asked what you would do if you stumbled upon a bag containing $18,000 in cash with no signs of the owner’s ID. Today, CNN took a camera out on the street to ask folks what they would do if they suddenly had $20,000 to spend, no strings attached. [More]
Elderly Woman Accidentally Donates $5,365 To Goodwill Inside Sock
By 5.19.10
If you like to hide large amounts of cash around your house, make sure to remember where you put it. And if you do tend to forget, make sure to check the crevices and pockets of everything before you donate it to charity or throw it away. This goes triple when cleaning out the home of an elderly relative. A 96-year-old woman in Asheville, N.C. recently donated a blanket that contained more than $5,000 in cash–and the Goodwill store managed to locate her and return the money. [More]
Glowing Cash Could Help You (And Muggers) Find The Right Bill
By 3.30.10
If you’ve ever had trouble identifying different denominations when digging through your wallet in the dark (or under other circumstances when you might find yourself visually challenged), Jaesik Heo’s concept for luminous paper money may just, er, fit the bill. Of course, the telltale glow could also alert anybody else in the vicinity to the presence of big bills in your wallet. Maybe Heo’s next version should let you customize your colors, so that your big pile of Benjies (or Sejongs, in Heo’s example) would look like a pitiful stack of singles. [More]
Radio Shack Wouldn't Let Me Buy Stuff Without Email, Address, Phone #
By 3.22.10
Reader Molly needed a cellphone charger. She ran in to Radio Shack to grab one and paid with cash — but the cashier wouldn’t complete the transaction without her home address, phone number and email address. She’s wondering if this is normal. [More]
This Is What Kids Did For Fun In The 80s
By 3.16.10
Josh at GeekSix unearthed a comic book ad that might be familiar to you if you were a kid in the 80s. Olympic Sales Club was one of those door-to-door greeting card companies that enlisted kids across the country to sell crap to neighbors in exchange for merch your parents wouldn’t buy you. [More]
24 Ways To Make Some Extra Money
By 2.15.10
If you’re between jobs, underemployed, or just have a lot of extra time on your hands now that you’ve give up expensive hobbies like smoking or shopping, here’s a list of 24 ways you can you earn some extra money. They’re not full time jobs, or sometimes even part-time jobs, but they’re a good starting point if you need some inspiration on how to bring in a little extra cash. [More]
Kmart Workers Find $10k Tin Can
By 12.8.09
Did you leave your tin can filled with over $10,000 on the customer service counter of a Des Moines Kmart? Because if you did, call them, they found it.
Update: Several of our readers have pointed out that the owner has reclaimed the can and the money. She says her husband left it there by accident, possibly while having a reaction to some medication, and that she’s going to deposit the cash in a bank.
More Americans Plan Gifts Of Cash This Year
By 12.6.09
A Western Union survey proves that perhaps the American public is taking the message of Consumerist’s anti-gift card to heart. Instead of tangible gifts or gift cards, more Americans are reportedly giving each other the gift of versatile, useful cash. [More]
Supermarkets Tell Shoppers To Leave Checkbooks At Home
By 9.22.09
Back when dinosaurs ruled the Earth and ATMs didn’t exist, if your cave-dwelling ancestor wanted to get cash in a hurry and didn’t want to deal with bank lines, he’d go to the local supermarket. There, the friendly high-school student at the checkout counter would allow him to write a check for the amount of cash he needed, and give him the cash in return. Today, however, the only people who actually still use those services are characters in a GEICO ad, so it should come as no surprise that some supermarkets are finally giving up on the practice.
