[youreincorrect]

I think you live in a bubble if you feel it necessary to exaggerate the effects and coddle people who aren't on top of their finances.

It's all a fairly pointless discussion because the simple solution is to suggest Uber, etc. just make this method of charging an optional feature that is easily toggled by their customers. Beyond that, it's an uninteresting discussion, and I don't care to hear people browbeat each other about how Uber is bad and wrong for rolling transactions into one because they didn't consider that their customers are mouthbreathing idiots whose entire financial world will come collapsing down on them if they can't get check their credit card balance for 100% accurate realtime information about their current financial state. Somehow if someone didn't think of this possibility, they are an inconsiderate jerk who "lives" in a "bubble."

[BoorishBears]

There's so much self-indulgent angst oozing out of this comment that it's hard to pick out the intended signal but I'll try:

- It's not about credit cards, it's mostly debit. It's a large driver of the 15 billion dollars in NSF fees banks pick up yearly.

- Having 100% up to date information on your money makes it easier to not overdraft, the emotional smokescreen deployed doesn't change that.

- I don't know anyone with any level of financial literacy who would prefer less accurate data on their money: so your suggestion for a switch that makes your transaction history less accurate is questionable to say the least.

Overall you sound insecure about living in a bubble. I didn't paint people as jerks for being in a bubble, but I rightfully pointed out that you're clearly unfamiliar with a challenge in some people's lives.

If self-loathing makes you feel like a jerk for being in a bubble I can see how you could misconstrue that.

[xwdv]

Indeed, im pretty sick and tired of people making excuses for others lack of financial planning.

Perhaps seeing a big bill dropped on them all at once for their past purchases is the exact wake-up call some people need to track their finances.

[BoorishBears]

If instead of taking uninformed pot shots you took just a moment to check, you'd see overdrafts come from a tiny slice of customers who get hit by overdrafts over and over again.

No one made any excuses for anyone, it was a simple statement of fact that batched transactions save a marginal cost for the good in question and affect the age group that's using them the most.

—

It might even be profitable for them to eat the processing fee and call out the fact there are already X dollars pending to users who have had at least one NSF in the past year as they check out. Why give the bank $20 out of your most captive customers pockets, to save .03 cents on payment processing?

There seems to be this weird idea that it can't be profitable to do things that help your users.

[xwdv]

If you can pause for reflection to go check your past history of purchases to determine if you should make another purchase, then you could probably just remember if you’ve been on a recent spending spree.

[BoorishBears]

Huh? I'm saying Uber should surface when an order is about to compound a pending transaction, precisely so they don't need to go and find that.

You're also again, showing how completely out of touch you are with how millions of people live: it has nothing to do with a recent spending spree, there are a lot of people who just live in a state where they're always near $0.

The middle class version of living paycheck to paycheck is not having a properly sized savings, there are people who live below that. Some random bill or fee landed the same day as their order is enough to get hit with an NSF, or multiple.

People in a certain bubble take this very black and white view of it. "Why do they have random bills?? Why would they have Netflix and be ordering Uber Eats??". You think that's idiotic, so by implying there are people living like that, I'm coddling idiots.

The truth is life is short and then you die. If people feel a certain level of hopelessness and lack of control over the larger picture, it can be hard to get excited about essentially balancing their checkbook before ordering dinner. I'm not going to sit on some high horse and act like they don't get to make "bad" decisions for comfort.

How many people in tech are still shackling themselves to 7 figure homes after the rate hikes and the layoffs to satisfy their FOMO instead of taking a more rational approach?

[olliej]

Most people being hit repeatedly by overdraft fees and the like aren't on spending sprees. They're people who have little to no money, and earn little to nothing. They get hit by overdraft fees whenever any bill is larger than expected, or they get a parking fine, etc.

I really don't think people understand that if you're commenting on HN you are unlikely to be in the same financial ballpark as someone who is actually poor.

[BenjiWiebe]

Oh and if anyone knows anyone is suffering this, have them look into fee-free banks such as Discover bank. 0 fees.