I remember - in those days - being young and poor and on my own. My trick for getting a "cash advance" for a month was to buy something from a store with my "MasterCharge" then return it immediately for a cash refund. The stores always issued a regular receipt (in addition to the carbon copy coming from that embossing machine) that didn't differentiate between a cash purchase and a charge, so all you had to do was take the basic receipt to the register or customer service for cash back!
