coldhearted scientist وداد

1.0. It turns out that the ATM card my bank mailed me in Peru, was already invalid when it arrived because they had also mailed a regular debit card to me here. Moral of story: if you have an ATM card mailed to you elsewhere, even if it is a different type of card than the one they mail to your home address, DO NOT let them also mail your regular card.

1.1. Also, the PIN did not work on my new debit card when I got it, and I had to go in person to the bank to get this straightened out. Consider the implications of this if you are in a foreign country and your large bank, because of the existence of debit cards and such, no longer has associates or partners abroad that can help its customers in this way. Be forewarned.

1.2. I used to travel around South America with large amounts of cash. This was because traveller’s checks were in dollars and you had to buy them at a very poor rate (and I do mean very poor, as in almost twice the cost), and then they were hard, and also expensive to change. So I would carry cash, as would many people. I am seriously considering a return to this system because a lost debit card turns out to be such a serious problem. I realize this is very retrograde, but I am convinced it is most practical. Consider further:

1.3. My bank says that in the U.S. you can get money off a credit card from a bank teller, without the PIN. It did not realize this cannot be done in all foreign countries. I was told several times in Peru that it was impossible, although I did not try as hard as I might have done. I would like further information on this. But again, moral of story: you need someone in the same country as your bank account authorized to send you money from it, or willing to lend you money, if you lose your debit card and do not have large amounts of cash with you.

1.4. My bank website will send a check to someone for me, but that person has to be in the U.S. (so I could have that done, and then have that person wire me cash). It will also allow me to wire money to a foreign account, but note that to open a bank account in many countries you must be a permanent resident. This means I would have to send it to someone else’s account and have them give it to me.

1.5. My bank says that in unusual circumstances, e.g. travel, it will allow me to TAKE WITH ME two debit cards, in case I lose one. But you have to apply for this, so check on it and try it out well ahead of time if you intend to test this backup plan. I still recommend carrying large amounts of cash.

2.0. I have given up balancing my checking account on paper. This is extremely strange, unorthodox and unnatural. It challenges religion. Why, then, have I given up balancing my account? Because to do so is irrelevant – my account is pre-balanced.

My account is “pre-balanced” because all normal payments and deposits are automatic and I can see them on line. From the same web page I can also see the account I use for cash. From this account I can immediately pay the credit card I use when I do not have cash (I do keep a paper record of what I put into this account and take out of it).

2.1. I find this system quite futuristic, although probably everyone else has already been doing it for years. Now I am going to be hybrid and postmodern by having complete on line access to all accounts while, at the same time, carrying large amounts of cash as though I had no bank at all … because the main thing banks could do in the past, namely put you in physical contact with your money without an electronic intermediary, appears to be withering away – at least for some circumstances.

2.2. Herein lies, I discern, an interesting paradox: cash (old fashioned) and money in the ether (very futuristic), with nothing in between. Yet I am merely describing the demise of the bank teller and the check, and their replacement with the moneychanger and the website. Perhaps I overinterpret, but I find this transition remarkable in a symbolic sort of way. Things wax both more concrete and more abstract, and more and more activity takes place at either extreme.

Axé.