By Navirah Zafar Jilani
You’re short on cash, so you walk over to the automated teller machine (ATM), insert your card into the card reader, respond to the prompts on the screen and within a minute you walk away with your money and a receipt. These were such simpler times when ATM machines processed money with no error. But now as one walks in to withdraw money from the ATM, the user is greeted by the ATM card getting jammed and ‘down link’ on most of the ATM machines, just helping to ignite ones blood pressure to scorching heights.
The ATM or cash machine first came into existence (1967) in a branch of Barclays in Enfield, north London, 42 years ago. The inspiration struck Mr Shepard Baron while taking a bath. Mr Shepherd-Barron is very much alive to new ideas and inventions, even though his device that plays killer whale noises still needs a little bit of tuning.
These machines now are found at most supermarkets, convenience stores, petrol stations and travel centres. Have you ever wondered about the process that makes your bank funds available to you at an ATM?
An ATM is simply a data terminal with two input and four output devices as described by Shah Mahmood, an employee in Bank Alfalah credit banking. Like any other data terminal, the ATM has to connect to and communicate through a host processor. The host processor is analogous to an Internet service provider (ISP) in that it is the gateway through which all the various ATM networks become available to the cardholder (the person wanting the cash).Usually the host processor is owned by a bank or financial institution or it may be owned by an independent service provider. Bank-owned processors normally support only bank-owned machines, whereas the independent processors support merchant-owned machines.
The Essay on Federal Reserve System Banks Board Money
Although the name the Federal Reserve System sounds governmentally controlled, that assumption of conducting is false. The FRS is independently within the outskirts of the government. Final decisions within the board are not concluded by the president, but the Federal system allows for a review by Congress. The FRS will annually report to Congress basically to inform them on the status of their ...
A new innovation in ATM cards is debit cards. As briefed by a senior banker Faisal Shah, you can use your ATM card as either a credit card or a debit card; either way it comes out of your account. The only difference is that if you tell the attendant ‘credit card’, you sign a slip and if you tell the attendant ‘debit card’, you enter your PIN number instead of signing. Some banks charge you a fee if you use your check card as a debit card (if it costs them more to process those transactions), but not if you use it as a credit card.
Cash may not be disappearing anytime soon, but there can be no denying that its role in the world economy is changing. From cash-preferred consumers to the rise of online shopping and concern over bank stability, the relationship people have with their money is evolving on an almost daily basis.
Sonia Rehman is of the view that, she and her husband just got atm/ debit cards thinking they would be a better option. He just started using his and I haven’t used mine yet. After monitoring the current situation, I’ll be taking his back and locking them both up. Giving him a credit card turned out to be a bad idea and he recently gave it back because the ease and temptation was too much for him.
The Future of Cash Survey (2008) predicts changes in consumer habits. They found out that if the current credit crunch continues credit cards would be considered as the strongest vehicle. Hence the consumers will have no choice but to rely on their credit cards more, perhaps than they would like to.
Now, as the credit market continues to deteriorate, millions of people across the country are starting to move away from credit cards, either voluntarily or involuntarily, and go back to the novel philosophy of only spending money they have in the bank. That means cash, debit or check.
The Essay on Credit Cards vs Cash
Credit Card versus Cash Credit Card is an easier way to use the money instead of seeing how it disappears from the wallet. People can have a better control of the money not only having it in their wallets but also having it in a bank account. Because credit card holders can see the movement of the money for each purchase. Most people tend to use cash when they do not use a lot of money in their ...
Some families are starting to budget by withdrawing a finite amount of cash from the ATM each week to pay for all of that week’s expenses. Other families are reverting to the Depression-era monthly envelope system, placing cash in envelopes labeled rent, groceries, clothing and so on. When it’s gone, it’s gone. A cash-only budgeting system might be the only thing that actually works for many Pakistanis.
