View Full Version : credit cards. Aggghhh
timwilky
07-03-06, 04:12 PM
I am attempting to purchase services from a US company for a tad over £1400. They are having problems processing my card. Whilst attempting to call my card issuer, they called me. Good my card company are on the ball.
It turns out the US company have been told to contact their referal centre. There is nothing wrong with my card and my account has now been tagged to note/approve this transaction. It is simply a security check due to the value and fact I have not used this merchant before.
3 times they have been "declined". I called my company who advise that as the US referral centre has not called me the US vendor must not have been in contact with their referral centre. They say they have and the transaction is declined.
This is getting embarrassing. Whilst I am in favor of card security and verification. You would have thought in this day and age that international credit card transactions were nothing new and straight forward to conduct.
sharriso74
07-03-06, 04:14 PM
The only problem I had like that was when I went to France to buy the drink for my wedding (just over 3000). My fault I forgot to tell my card company but one phone call to my bank and a 10 minute wait the card was accepted.
kwak zzr
07-03-06, 06:56 PM
aint got one, dont want one! :D
valleyboy
07-03-06, 06:58 PM
Got one.. dont want it! :lol: paying it off, and seting fire to it!
Never had one, never will.
If I don't have the cash I save up til I have.
Seen too much heartache caused by credit card debts :cry:
kwak zzr
07-03-06, 07:09 PM
my thourghts exactly! if i aint got the money i cant spend it!
Would anybody like mine? :lol:
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kwak zzr
07-03-06, 07:24 PM
that would depend on if you were continuing to pay the balance at the end of each month. :D
I put mine through the shredder, never regretted it
scooby2102
08-03-06, 12:18 AM
milk them for the interest free periods, have been doin it for over 4 years now and have saved an absolute fortune :lol:
milk them for the interest free periods, have been doin it for over 4 years now and have saved an absolute fortune :lol:
Yup - just changed to another 0% one - it was a close call that the balance transfer was going to make it before I had to make another payment! Phew!
If you dont mind a bit of hassle it really can be free money....!
Oh and all mine are shredded as soon as I get them...! :evil:
playing devils advocate here to those that don't have a card......
lets play a game! its one which requires using one's imagination....its january, there's 2 foot of snow outside and its blowing a gale, your central heating packs up, you're skint cos you've spent a fortune at christmas, how do you go about paying somebody to fix your central heating?.....
cards are essential, in my eyes, i'm fortunate (if thats the right word) to not be up to my neck in debt - ok other than the 7 figure mortgage!! - so maybe i view cards differently.
7 figure mortgage!!
:shock: :shock:
Lend us a tenner Keith... :wink: :lol:
7 figure mortgage!!
:shock: :shock:
Lend us a tenner Keith... :wink: :lol:
cant i'm skint :oops:
playing devils advocate here to those that don't have a card......
lets play a game! its one which requires using one's imagination....its january, there's 2 foot of snow outside and its blowing a gale, your central heating packs up, you're skint cos you've spent a fortune at christmas, how do you go about paying somebody to fix your central heating?.....
In that scenario you can't, you've already highlighted the problem that you're skint. So you simply put on a heap of wooly jumpers, maybe sell some stuff on Ebay, and wait till the next pay check comes in. That's reality.
.
playing devils advocate here to those that don't have a card......
lets play a game! its one which requires using one's imagination....its january, there's 2 foot of snow outside and its blowing a gale, your central heating packs up, you're skint cos you've spent a fortune at christmas, how do you go about paying somebody to fix your central heating?.....
In that scenario you can't, you've already highlighted the problem that you're skint. So you simply put on a heap of wooly jumpers, maybe sell some stuff on Ebay, and wait till the next pay check comes in. That's reality.
.
but you know that when the next pay check comes in you'll be able to pay the card off straight away...so why sit there and suffer?
don't forget this is still a game! :D
but you know that when the next pay check comes in you'll be able to pay the card off straight away...so why sit there and suffer?
But the sad reality is that this doesn't happen, which is why the vast majority of people have huge debt mountains.
.
Jelster
08-03-06, 10:24 AM
It's all about self control, some of us have it, others don't. Mrs Jelster is my way of controling what I spend. :roll:
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Mrs Jelster is my way of controling what I spend. :roll:
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Here, here, Mrs Skip sees to it that I dont spend any money except where its needed... :(
northwind
08-03-06, 12:35 PM
I had none (self control), but I finally got mine paid off, now the one i use is direct debited to pay off in full monthly to stop it happening again. Quite bad when you work for a bank too :oops:
Back on topic, sounds messy. Do you have any other cards? Usually visa's one of the best ways to pay fo foreign transactions but it can be a real hassle, most card companies flag large foreign currency transactions, and large phone transactions, so combine the two and it's likely to refer. What happens next depends how incompetent the issuers are.
Egg and HBOS can both pre-authorise a transaction- they just take a note to ensure that the next item goes through regardless. Might be an option?
What I don't understand is, why are the interest rates so high? Typically 20% +, when base is only 4.5%. Banks always claim that they dont make any money on credit cards but that is hard to believe given the margin.
It's because they're thieving scum. I really mean that.
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northwind
08-03-06, 03:02 PM
What I don't understand is, why are the interest rates so high? Typically 20% +, when base is only 4.5%. Banks always claim that they dont make any money on credit cards but that is hard to believe given the margin.
Because they lose money on something like half of all visas, if memory serves. If you pay off your visa monthly, you can get up to 56 days (usually) interest free. So the bank's spending money now, not getting it back for 2 months, and not getting any interest. Most banks don't charge you for having the acount, so they pay for the card, the statements, the admin, and they don't get anything directly back from you. They do get a cut from the transaction fees IIRC, but it's minimal. If you have a cashback visa, then they make even less/lose even more.
Then of course you have your bad debts- recovery costs and writeoffs. (if you think the charges cover this, you're wrong- the trick with a bad debt is that adding £30 onto a £5000 bad debt doesn't mean you're any richer, it just means they owe you more)
Who pays for it all? The half of all users who do make the banks money.
So why keep on offering Visas? Because you don't know who's going to make you money and who's not till you have the custom, and you don't know if a loss-maker this month will be profitable next month. Also, if you're a real bank, you want to offer your savings and current account customers the service.
I'm not saying 20% APR's not ridiculous by the way... If you look at HBOS for example, our credit cards are still profitable at an average APR of 14.9% (or was, last time I looked!) and pays cashback, plus gives a long interest-free period and no annual charges.
fizzwheel
08-03-06, 04:52 PM
If you pay off your visa monthly, you can get up to 56 days (usually) interest free.
This was my intention if you've got the money to pay it off each month its quite a good trick. However I got in a mess trying to do this so it doesnt always work
:oops:
If you pay off your visa monthly, you can get up to 56 days (usually) interest free.
This was my intention if you've got the money to pay it off each month its quite a good trick. However I got in a mess trying to do this so it doesnt always work
:oops:
I never found it easy to manage it either. I had a few cards and tried to juggle introductory interest free periods but it's actually quite difficult to do and in the end I put them all through the shredder.
fizzwheel
08-03-06, 05:20 PM
I never found it easy to manage it either. I had a few cards and tried to juggle introductory interest free periods but it's actually quite difficult to do and in the end I put them all through the shredder.
I've got all mine onto one card now and thats much easier to mange, it did my head in having 3 different cards and it was a nightmare trying to cope with it all.
I'm trying to be more strict now and only using the card if I know I have the money to pay it off at the end of the month or if its an utter disaster and I need to get myself out of a hole.
carelesschucca
08-03-06, 06:04 PM
i had to get one cause the company I work for are a shower of B's (EDS is anyone cares)
Its a nightmare I was working in Gosport for 6 weeks and had to pay the hotel and hirecar expenses up front... I hit my card limit in 3 weeks and then had to fight the Royal bank to get the money paid off (bunch of scum that they are) It took them 8 working days to clear £700 quid from one of their own accounts to their own credit card...
They only transfered the cash when I phoned up and got serriously stroppy on the phone and told them that I was stuck in southampton airport with no money cause you can't be bothered to credit my card with the money I gave you over a week ago... SO MOVE IT NOW... Took five minutes and they did it... B's!!!
As soon as my company have paid me back my cash the card goes out the window...
timwilky
09-03-06, 03:57 PM
It appears the referal centre in the US want personal details to verify it is me that has given my card. Obviously the merchant has not got the details. I have again contacted the issuer who has instructed me to give the required details to the US merchant.
Ouch no wonder ID theft is so rife. I have had to give them my details. it is a company I have never used so hope everything goes ok. I just hope my CC issuer recorded my call where he instructed me to give my details to a third party
I have discovered that it is a good idea to have several cards when travelling on a bike
in a cage, you can go 800 miles on 2 fillups but on a bike that's 6 or 7 fill ups
many companies will only let you make 4 charges in a day
Would anybody like mine? :lol:
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yes but not the repayments.... :lol: :wink:
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