Cash Still Works

Over the weekend I had the unsettling experience of having my credit cards declined online when I tried to pay a utility bill.  Huh?  What gives?  I never did find out why they were declined.  I am a long time customer of the utility, had previously paid by a different credit card without a problem.  I called the utility customer service... a very pleasant real live person tried to pay the bill with the same results.  Declined.  It was frustrating, embarrassing and annoying.  I have good credit!  I pay my credit card bill in full every month (my FICO score is above 800); there is $$ in my bank account to cover my debit card.  But no dice when it came to using the credit or debit card to pay a simple utility bill.  I felt like I was banging my head against a brick wall.

Cash to the rescue.  Bright and early Monday morning I trotted my happy self to the utility office, cash in hand, where I discovered a miracle of technology: a payment machine.  Accepts credit cards OR cash (even gives change if required).  Didn't bother trying to use my credit/debit cards.  Fed that lovely machine cash, paid the bill, set up a cash credit to cover four months of future bills and left, receipt in hand.  In the future I will feed that machine cash on a quarterly basis to cover monthly billing.

Good to know that when the chips are down cash still works.   In my house it will always be king.

Penny Pincher