Consumerist
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identity theft
Why No Credit Card Is 100% Safe Against Fraud
It seems that there is nothing a consumer can do to completely prevent a merchant from putting an unauthorized charge through on their account. Even if that account is closed or you're using a "single-use" or "virtual" credit card, fraud-prevention cards with disposable credit card numbers that change after you use them once, you're not 100% secure. How come? Well, we'll tell ya.
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bank of america
Remember our reader who tried to use his Bank of America debit card on a parking meter and was charged a $10 cash advance fee? One of our commenters did a little investigation on our story and got two conflicting responses from Bank of America.
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UPDATE: Bank Of America Has No Idea Whether It Treats Parking Meter Payments As A Cash Advance
Remember our reader who tried to use his Bank of America debit card on a parking meter and was charged a $10 cash advance fee? One of our commenters did a little investigation on our story and got two conflicting responses from Bank of America.
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fraud
Bestsmartstore Is A Scam, Check Your Statements For Fake Charges
Watch out for fraudulent charges from Bestsmartstore.com on your credit card statements. Consumers are complaining about unauthorized charges for $4.95 or $4.99 for "e books" they never ordered or received. E-books are a favorite tool of online scammers as, if they ever got caught, they could just point to a few PDFs on their computer and say that's the inventory of their legitimate business. If you get one of these charges, do a chargeback on the card and cancel the card immediately.
bestsmartstore.com = fraud [toddbradley]
(Photo: Getty)
american express
The 43.5% APR Credit Card
Perhaps this British Airways American Express Premium Plus Card's interest rate is in "metric" APR, but if not, no matter what side of the pond you're on on, or road you drive on, you must agree that a 43.5% variable interest rate is bollocks. Who cares how many bonus miles you get, they're just going to get devalued anyway.
UPDATE: The 43.5% APR is the effective APR after you include the £150 annual fee. Like commenter Hanke wrote, "It's just like those payday loan places, where although the actual interest rate is low, the fees associated with the service give you a 300%APR." Makes you wonder, though, what about all those American credit cards with annual fees? Their effective APR is also higher then, and as far as I know, they don't have to include the fee in the stated APR (big print or no).
British Airways American Express [Official Site] (Thanks to Kerwin!)
gas
Is This $0.10 Credit/Debit Surcharge On Gasoline Allowed?
Reader Brian wants to know how to tell a "surcharge" applied to a credit/debt card transaction vs a convenience charge? More »
privacy
Reader Refuses To Give Driver's License With Credit Card Purchase
Reader Brandon is obviously familiar with number 3 in the 10 Things You Might Not Know About Your Credit Card post, holding firm in the face of a retailer who wanted Brandon to give his driver's license when he bought something with a credit card:
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credit cards
10 Credit Card Company Tricks To Beware
Are you smarter than a credit card company? They've got billions riding on their belief that you're not. Check out these 10 methods, via the Americans for Fairness in Lending, credit card companies use to make extra money off you that you may not even be aware of, knowledge that could save you hundreds in extra fees. More »
credit cards
10 Things You Might Not Know About Your Credit Card
As you might imagine, we get a lot of questions about using credit cards. Based on those piles of emails we've put together a list of 10 things a lot of people don't know about credit cards. Enjoy!1) Unsigned Cards Are Not Valid And Merchants Can And Will Refuse Them
You might think that everyone knows that you have to sign your credit card in order for it to be valid — after all — there's a panel on the back that says "Not Valid Unless Signed," but you'd be shocked at the number of angry emails we get from people who have tried to use an unsigned credit card with "SEE ID" or "CHECK ID" written on it and were turned away when they refused to sign their card. More »
8:45 AM on Thu Jul 10 2008
By Meg Marco
128,183 views,
221 comments
Latest by n/a: It really isn't merchant sympathy it is consumer sympathy. When you use your credit card you cost the merchant more money and then they in turn have to raise prices for everyone. In situations, where you are out of cash, more »
self-help
Shame Yourself Into Spending Less With A Hello Kitty Debit Card
Reader MervinGleasner has Hello Kitty to thank for his unique method of curbing personal spending. In a comment on our "Succeed Through Self-Undermining!" post, he writes: More »
Classic Closeouts
ClassicCloseouts Randomly Charging Up To $70 On Past Customers' Cards
Bells just wrote in with some alarming news for past customers of ClassicCloseouts.com:
It appears that classiccloseouts.com has decided that they could get a nice revenue boost by going back through their files and giving all their past customers a nice new charge on their credit cards. Of course, they don't answer their phones, their voicemail is full, and there's no notice of the charge.More »I got one ($49.99), and it looks like a few thousand other folks did, too, with the amounts ranging from $39 to $69. Lovely.
annoyances
Lowe's Self Check Out Is Apparently Just A Huge Pain In The Ass
Reader Jason says that the self check out system at his local Lowe's simply refuses to process his debit card transaction properly. After the third time, he's finally given up and will be shopping at Home Depot. Aren't self check out systems supposed to be convenient? More »
debt
A Debt Collector Offers You A Credit Card, What's Wrong With This Picture?
Like countless others, reader Ryan is in debt. His debt is to the tune of $1,364. He received an interesting offer from the debt collector who is offering "debt reduction" in the form of a pre-approved Visa card in which his $1,364 debt would be reduced to a $1,200 balance if he accepts the card. He would need only to to pay off the balance under the terms of the credit card to eliminate his debt. Ryan wisely wrote to us to ask if this is a good idea. Actually Ryan, it's a really really really bad idea. His letter and our advice, inside... More »
civil disservice
Paramedic Steals Credit Cards From Patient, Goes On Shopping Spree At Target
A Cleveland paramedic was arrested last week after being caught on video using credit cards she had stolen from an 87-year-old patient, according to The Plain Dealer. Tiffany Forte, age 32, has been working for the Cleveland Emergency Medical Services for the last seven years. A police statement says she was seen on video surveillance at Target and Marshalls racking up $1000 worth of charges while wearing her EMS t-shirt. Details, inside... More »
self-help
Succeed Through Self-Undermining!
Our post on freezing your credit cards in a block of ice got me thinking. Anything that slows, stops, or impedes making transactions can be used as a technique for limiting your spending. Whatever it may be, cutting up your credit cards, locking up most of your money in an account it takes 3 days to transfer from, giving yourself an allowance, it will be a variation on a single principle: It's easier to put a hard limit on the future then to make the right decision in the impulsive moment. Installing some kind of an automatic hiccup can help break you out of your desire-driven action and give you the breathing room to step back and make the right choice. So if you have trouble with overspending (or overeating or any kind of bad habit) and your sheer willpower is sometimes lacking, aka, you're human, try brainstorming ways you can trip yourself up. The world is full of obstacles, it shouldn't be too hard to find one.
credit cards
Risk-Based Pricing Is A Myth
Credit card companies need to penalize bad behavior with outrageous fees to keep credit affordable for the rest of us, right? Yeah, not so much. Credit Slips blogger and Georgetown Law Professor Adam Levitin argues that risk-based pricing is a myth that credit card companies exploit to escape well-deserved government regulation. More »
Loyalty
