Cardinal RV Club

The Bank of Wal-Mart has limitations since the ABA (American Bankers Association) does not want Sam to have a full service bank. The concern seems to be that Ole Sam will do to banking what he did to Sears, Penny's and others. For convenience we use a Flying J RV card to avoid the hassle of retail pumps. We find they do not split prices as much at the wholesale pumps and prefer to pay with our AMX card. (We get 5% back at year end. If the merchant does not like AMX we use a Visa card. We also carry a BOA debit card (everyone takes a debit card) and never carry more than $200 in cash.

The best fuel saving tool we have is Sirius Radio with the gas station add-on that tells us miles in advance of where fuel (diesel) is available and at what price. If you use cruise control Sirius only gives you stations on your route.

Its interesting the different ways people deal with this. We find cash at fuel stops works best for us. I have two visa's and a debit but very seldom use them unless I have to use them for an emergency. I guess in some ways we are still old school, right or wrong. For fuel prices I use gas buddy and I never fill up the truck with the trailer on so in most cases do not use truck stops.

We bank at a credit union, which we love. I can use any ATM machine anywhere for cash, if they charge me a fee the CU reimburses us put to $15 a month in fees. We too prefer to use cash as well, but do use the debit/credit card for fuel. Makes it easier with a card.

Well forgot I have a small loan with B of A so no problem and no limits other then money in the account on my debit card since I am a customer. All is good.

Mike here is information about banking with Wal-mart. After reading it, it doesn't look like something that would help out much while traveling.

http://business.time.com/2011/11/08/wou ... t-walmart/

I pay our bills on line and use the MasterCard for most purchases and expenses. Like Millie I will buy something at Walmart and get $100 cash back when we need cash. For fuel I have a Walmart/Discover card that I use exclusively for fuel. I have not found a difference between cash and credit prices at most fuel stations, only place I've seen them advertised is the truck stops. If I can fuel up at Walmart I get a discount of from $0.05 to $0.15 per gallon depending on whether they are running a promotion or not. Either way it's usually the cheapest place to fuel up, if Walmart does not have fuel I use the Walmart/Discover card at any other fuel station, that way all my fuel charges are on one card which I pay off every month. The Walmart/Discover card is a "no fee" card AND I earn cash back which they send me in the monthly statement once the earnings reach $10. Having the debit card available is sure much better than having to write checks and it's accepted most places now days. I have the pilot/Flying J card that I used on the trip to Memphis and Elkhart last year, but as someone else posted, they have become a higher cost fuel stop, but with the card I get $0.08 off the "cash" price so if I need fuel and they are available and are competitive I'll stop there.
One of the best things going is to have all your income direct deposited to your bank account and being able to check your account on line.
One thing to consider, some petroleum companies will put a hold on your account if you use the debit card to purchase fuel and I've heard of people's card numbers being stolen off gas pumps. Our debit card got compromised when we were in Florida in 2012. Seems the processing company's computer got hacked and a bunch of numbers were stolen. The thieves made new cards and by using the debit card as a charge card hit our account for $1500 at Walmart on one day, fortunately the bank's fraud dept caught it and contacted me. We canceled the card and the bank covered the charges, NOT a fun experience.

Have found that most truck stops charge at least 20 cents/gal more than other near by stations. However, many of them aren't good if the Bird is in tow. Gas Buddy is great and usually very current. Several truck stops don't have RV islands and you have to pay inside which with our credit card voids our 5% back for pay at the pump. Have been seeing price differentials of more than 80 cents between the price of regular and diesel. Just paid $3.59 for diesel in Clinton MS.

We use two banks. USAA is our main bank, but then we have a "local" bank in Madison SD. (Any vet can become a member of USAA.) When we were traveling a lot in Mexico, often their phone lines would only work for one of the cards. We have set limits on our debit cards, but with a card each and two banks we can take out a fair amount of money in a day, if needed. We also use the "cash back" at Walmart and other places to avoid fees.

My bank pays me back for the ATM charges each months so I don't worry about using some other bank's ATM. USAA is wonderful that way. For gas I use whatever card gives me the most return. Most times that is Discover but I use Cabbala's a lot as well.

Bill: WELCOME! on the bank thing: we use Cabellas for fuel, as well and hubby got a bit over $200.00 credit points by the time we got home from Alaska a month ago! But WHAT A TRIP!