The last time I went to my bank, I had to deposit a check, which meant face time with an individual who used to be known as a bank clerk or bank teller, but now, if you believe the card that I saw sitting on the counter, the person across from me is my personal financial advisor. Now that makes me a little nervous. I don't think I want a financial advisor. The last financial advisor I had charged a yearly fee and got us into highly speculative stocks, insurance products and load mutual funds, all of which lined his pockets and took a big chunk out of our savings. We haven't seen him in 10 years, which is why I was surprised to see that we had suddenly acquired a new advisor just by walking into the bank with a check in hand.

The first thing that Rodney did that I thought was strange was to seem confused about the purpose of the transaction, that is, he didn't seem to realize that I was there to put money in the bank. The second thing that I didn't care for was when he suggested that I invest in a CD. We have some savings. That's what we're living on. I don't think that a CD is the answer for us right now, and since I've only met Rodney once, I'm not sure that he should be giving me the hard sell. The third thing he did was to insist not once, but twice that I should be interested in a bank debit check card. I'm not really interested in yet another way to get separated from my money. Think about it. I can use my bank card to debit funds from my account when I go to the grocery store. I can use my bank card to get money from the ATM. I can write checks by hand. I can pay bills over the internet. I can use my credit card. My problem is, that I have plenty of ways for money to fly out the door-five-why would I want to add one more? And that is a big part of my message today. How can you track six ways of spending money? How can you budget it? Why have more than one credit card? Skip has one personal credit card and one business card. I have one credit card. We used to share credit cards until it turned out that Skip had a bump in purchases in December which, when it coincided with another bump in year end spending, collided with our credit limit and cost us money. I know-what were we buying? Now that our little family is under-employed, there won't be any more of those little bumps. Not until I can get myself a job.

I'm starting not to like my bank very much. I got a newsletter from them today where a satisfied customer proudly proclaimed that he had received a loan without applying for one. Yeah, I don't know how that works either, except that he must have been pre-approved, which is different than, say, being approved or post-approved. I gotta tell you, I don't want any loans unless I ask for them. This whole idea makes me very nervous.

Oh, I know. My reluctance to embrace the concept that there is one more way to spend money is going to single-handedly cost Rodney his job. I can imagine the branch manager of the bank talking to Rodney in the back office. "Okay, big guy," she'll say, twisting a pen labeled with the bank name and 1-800 number between her fingers. "You only got four people to take the debit check card today. And that last customer-she didn't buy a CD. You're not trying. Frankly, it's to the point where you need to fish or cut bait. We're going to have to let you go." I'll probably come across Rodney in the unemployment lines this week.

Don't worry-there are entire think tanks in Washington DC trying to figure out how to stimulate the economy. I have news for you-we're not going to be any better off if you keep trying to shove useless financial products at us. Call me reactionary, but I don't understand why banks stopped being banks and started being financial centers and employing financial advisors who don't know anything.

Take Rodney. What Rodney doesn't know about debit check cards could fill a wheelbarrow. Debit check cards are great deals...for our banks. Everything goes electronically, so they don't have to track any paper. So in one sense, it's good for the environment. My biggest problem is, and I discussed this with my personal financial advisor, that debit cards do not offer the same level of protection for consumers that credit cards do. Case in point, several years ago, I tried to take a dance workshop from a now defunct organization called American Dance Force. I paid by check. The workshop was cancelled and I never got a call, an apology or a refund. Since they were headquartered in another state, I was basically out the fifty bucks. However, if I had paid by credit card, I could have called my credit card company, and gotten my money back. Pay with a debit card? It's like that check for the dance workshop-you'll never see it again.

What about fraud? According to Ronaleen Roha at Kiplinger.com and Patricia Sabatini of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, federal protections for fraud with debit check cards are not as good either. Basically, if your credit card gets stolen, you'll pay the first $50 of unauthorized charges, but if your debit card is stolen, you can pay the first $50 if you catch it in the first two days, up to $500 if you catch the theft in 60 days, and up to everything you own and then something if you don't catch it by then. Shiver me credit ratings!

When I pointed this out to my personal financial advisor, not in so much detail, his eyes kind of glazed over. Maybe it had been a long day for Rodney. Maybe Rodney happily uses his debit card everywhere he goes-you've seen the ads-and has no savings. It's kind of weird when one person can look at your bank account and in 30 seconds or less, come up with several financial strategies for you. Although I felt slimed, I didn't get a debit check card that day. The bottom line is that debit check cards are convenient and easy to use. Maybe a little too convenient. Maybe a little too easy. If you're having trouble budgeting or paying off your credit cards each month, I'm not sure that using a debit card is going to help you with your overall sense of the flow of money through your life. In fact, I think that if you're having trouble with money, one of the first steps is to cut up all of your credit cards. Now we'll have to add debit cards and debit check cards to that list. And when I look for a job? It won't be as a financial advisor.