UNDER MY SKIN

For many years...up until a few years ago...I was a ‘check’ writer. If I bought it…I wrote a check for it. I didn’t like using credit cards and was amazed at people who seemed to use them for everything…milk at the grocery store…happy meals at McDonald's…it seemed I saw it a lot. I felt they were putting themselves in real financial jeopardy, knowing that people with no self-control use the...‘buy now pay later’...mentality and then get themselves in serious trouble when the bill comes. So…to not become one of those people …I wrote checks…lots of them.

Then one day…my thoughts changed and I gradually switched over to ‘their’ way of thinking. I knew I had the control to pay the card bill off every month when it came…and I’ve been able to do that for the most part. Now I probably write less checks in a year than I used to write in a month.

Recently I read that Europe is wanting the United States to change our credit cards to the type they use, to make things easier for 'them'.

You’ll notice on the back of your credit card is a black strip. This is simply a piece of magnetic recording tape that our card information is loaded onto. When our card is ‘swiped’ through a reader, it detects those numbers that appear on the front of our card, along with other information the business needs and the charges are put on our account.

It seems that in Europe, they’ve gone from the magnetic strip…to a computer chip that’s embedded in the card. It’s easier and better for 'them' and they want us to do the same...so that when we ‘crazy Americans’ go over there to spend our money...we can make their life easier by having credit cards like theirs.

So don’t be surprised if that doesn’t happen some day, whether it’s for the Europeans…or just considered a good idea by us.

I also read that MasterCard is now making a card that has a small display window on the front. By pushing a few buttons on the card, it will display your card balance, your recent transactions and similar functions. Don’t be surprised if you see more of these smart cards in the future, too.

But I think rather than putting a computer chip in my credit card, I'll have my bank install one under my skin...that connects to my bank accounts. When I buy something...I’ll wave my arm under the reader and...DING...it's done.

Hey we can put those chips under our dogs skin and track where they are in the neighborhood…why not track my spending with one.

Lots of other people seem to bet getting under my skin. I’ll just add my credit cards too.


Dan