I used to work at a large retail company that accepted CC. Here is a scam base on this sur-charges we discovered. This company in order to reduce cost would not immidatly submit CC claims under $50, they would insted save all those claims until the end of the week and submit them all at once therefore only being charged once processing fee. Okay to the scam, if someone had a cc that was canceled but still in date (not expired), and spent less that $50 per transaction they could use the card and it wouldn't be found out for several days. Once the cc company recived the claim the would notify the card hold who could simply say that they had canceled the card b/c it was lost. Thus they would never pay for the charges, if they had enough cards they could do this we regularity.
Now I don't recommend this b/c I found out about it by catching someone who did it and ended up going to jail for cc fruad, but I thought this was a interesting and somewhat realated story.
I would like to hear from the guys if they think it is good that providers accept credit cards. I am not talking for the 1 hour dates but for long dates. I know most of people wouldn't carry 10k in their pockets. Also for deposits.
Any opinions on this?
Are you married? NO!
Single?? NO!
IOW...............NO!!!!
Just taking 10k in cash out of the bank at one time is a bad idea because the bank has to report single cash transactions 10k and over to the IRS.
TET
Except that when you charge 10k, it is not treated like taking 10k from an ATM or bank using the charge card. If one is going to take 10k in cash, why not just take it from a checking or savings account. You are right about the report out on withdrawals of 10k or more from a checking or savings account, paperwork and signatures are involved, but is is somewhat painless, just time consuming.
Not a good idea to leave a paper trail. For me it's cash donations only.
Then such a method of payment is a good one. The issues with such a route are card credit balances, ie, does the gent have the spending power that is needed, and spending profiles -American Express maintains a spending profile on all clients, if a gent spends 10k in a single shot and he has never done that before, a red flag pops up and he will be asked to verify that he charged the amount, it happened to me for business unrelated to hobbying, the last problem is whether an SO or business associate will see the charge and ask questions. But if a gent meets the three barriers listed above, payment of large amounts via the card is a neat way to handle the affair.
You also may very well end up paying a hefty fee on top of the already stated price. Ever wonder why some business, both brick-and-mortar AND on-line, charge a little more for credit card transactions? The Card Companies charge the business owner a processing fee. Some businesses just eat this charge, some write it off as a loss and many pass this cost on to the customer as a card surcharge fee. The larger the transaction, the larger the surcharge and the less likely the business in question will be willing to forego passing the fee on to the customer.
Are you ready to fork over and additional X% to your provider of choice, for that overnighter, because she is passing this fee back along to you as additional cost of services?
American Express Green card takes a cut of the action, the percentage depends upon the volume of business charged, the percentage of the cut drops with more business charged. Since AMEX holders pay normally pay in full upon receipt of the bill, AMEX does not charge them interest - AMEX does have a feature where certain customers can roll over charge amounts upon pre-approval - I do not know how that system works, but I think that the card holder is charged interest on the rolled amount. I also do not know much about the AMEX Blue cards, I think those work more like Vias and Mastercard.
Visa and Mastercard do not take cuts from the business owner that provided the charged service, but do charge the card holder interest on card balances.
AmEx and does take a cut which is why many businesses will not accept the card for payment of goods. You are right, Visa/MC do not charge the business owner, though with ANY credit card there is a merchant processing fee involved... anywhere from 1 to 10%. Most businesses simply accept the processing fee as a business expense. I would be leery of any biz (or lady) who wanted to charge the customer for this.
but I get air miles with my credit card.
I used to work at a large retail company that accepted CC. Here is a scam base on this sur-charges we discovered. This company in order to reduce cost would not immidatly submit CC claims under $50, they would insted save all those claims until the end of the week and submit them all at once therefore only being charged once processing fee. Okay to the scam, if someone had a cc that was canceled but still in date (not expired), and spent less that $50 per transaction they could use the card and it wouldn't be found out for several days. Once the cc company recived the claim the would notify the card hold who could simply say that they had canceled the card b/c it was lost. Thus they would never pay for the charges, if they had enough cards they could do this we regularity.
Now I don't recommend this b/c I found out about it by catching someone who did it and ended up going to jail for cc fruad, but I thought this was a interesting and somewhat realated story.
Even though Carla now bitterly hates me because I said here she late cancelled on me (twice, but I did not say that before), I shall try to answer her question, and address a point some respondents brought up:
It's always a good option to be able to charge.
My concerns are
1) paper trail (If there is a vendor name that is reasonable, that helps...also, the charge can be made for an odd amount: i.e., $656.43)
2) what if she --- ahem --- late cancels? It's up to her good graces to void the charge.
XOXO,
Mean Old 40-Watt
First I don't hate anyone if I decided to not see you I had my reasons. Thanks for the response.