diff --git a/QuickBooks/Cast.php b/QuickBooks/Cast.php
index d58f5c11..f97d3818 100755
--- a/QuickBooks/Cast.php
+++ b/QuickBooks/Cast.php
@@ -255,7 +255,7 @@ static public function cast($type_or_action, $field, $value, $use_abbrevs = true
 			$dh = opendir(dirname(__FILE__) . '/QBXML/Schema/Object');
 			while (false !== ($file = readdir($dh)))
 			{
-				if ($file{0} == '.' or substr($file, -6, 6) != 'Rq.php')
+				if ($file[0] == '.' or substr($file, -6, 6) != 'Rq.php')
 				{
 					continue;
 				}
diff --git a/QuickBooks/MerchantService/CheckingAccount.php b/QuickBooks/MerchantService/CheckingAccount.php
index ac0dd32d..7f7a6339 100644
--- a/QuickBooks/MerchantService/CheckingAccount.php
+++ b/QuickBooks/MerchantService/CheckingAccount.php
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ public function __construct($routing, $account, $info, $type, $first_name, $last
 		
 		$phone = trim(str_replace(array('(', ')', '+', ' ', '.', '-'), '', $phone));
 		if (strlen($phone) == 11 and 
-			$phone{0} == '1')
+			$phone[0] == '1')
 		{
 			$phone = substr($phone, 1);
 		}