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Privacy – Forget Your Credit Card

privacy.com

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Re: Privacy – Forget Your Credit Card

#331

Post by ipsin »

darksim905 wrote: post #295
ipsin wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you sure? I've looked at these, and every single one that I investigated involved some kind of activation process that meant giving up identifying information (or lying, which I'm not willing to do).

AMEX gift cards => pay cash => leave => enjoy. when paying with said card? provide address, fake name, 3 digit code on back of card "A HAPPY CUSTOMER4U" as name on card. Done.

Thanks for the tip. I'm not familiar with the laws around providing a fake name or address, but it's good to know that's an option.

(My concern is that, if there's any kind of issue on the payment processor's end, it seems like the use of the fake identity could be misinterpreted as criminal fraud)

Re: Privacy – Forget Your Credit Card

#333

Post by brokentone »

ac29 wrote: post #161

In case anyone didn't catch what this actually costs, the answer is: 1.5-2%, which is the rate you could get cash back (or airline miles/etc) with good credit. Because this service draws directly from your bank account, and takes what would otherwise be your rewards from the credit card fees their banking partners charge, it provides a nice business model for them at the cost of you getting 0% rewards back. Not worth…

They actually get one better. Whereas a credit card takes 1-3%, gives you 1-2%, makes $$ on various partnerships for redemption, sell your data for additional $$, and potentially charges you yearly, monthly, or interest fees. The CC ALSO extends you 1 month liquidity for free.

These guys directly debit you, so they have to float nothing, they have no fee on the ACH, and they keep the 1-3% merchant fee. That said... avoiding some of those earlier issues of fees and data selling, this seems kinda cool.

Re: Privacy – Forget Your Credit Card

#334

Post by coryfklein »

Shouldn't this service be marketed to credit card companies instead of credit card users? If I get a fraudulent charge on my credit card I can just dispute it and have it removed. What value do I get with privacy.com that I don't already have that is worth the extra fees I have to pay?

Re: Privacy – Forget Your Credit Card

#335

Post by arfrank »

elithrar wrote: post #230
rgbrgb wrote: post #172

Is this Final without a physical card? https://getfinal.com/

It looks like that to me. I loved Final's ad (done by Sandwich Video) but they've been in "closed beta" for a long while.

We're still hard at work, working on getting it in consumers hands shortly.

Re: Privacy – Forget Your Credit Card

#337

Post by ungerik »

boling11 wrote: post #4

Hey HN - Privacy.com co-founder here. I'm really excited to share what we've been working on for the past year and a half or so. We've been neck-deep in payments stuff on the card issuing side (getting a BIN sponsor, ACH origination, etc), so happy to answer any questions on that front as well. P.S. For new users, your first $5 donation to watsi.org is on us :)

Not everyone who finds English content on the web lives in the US. Just wasted time because I thought I could use the service...

Re: Privacy – Forget Your Credit Card

#339

Post by cubano »

superuser2 wrote: post #140
cubano wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't you see that rewards tracking is actually the antithesis of this service? That's what those "free" rewards really are...getting more detailed information on your spending patterns and profile so they can resell that info to interested parties.

Not particularly, though it may factor in. Rewards are primarily a kickback from the company's ~3% cut.

Have you ever read the Terms Of Service when you agree to a rewards program?

Of course it's a simple rebate as well, but I didn't think I needed to point out something that obvious.

Re: Privacy – Forget Your Credit Card

#340

Post by URSpider94 »

akhatri_aus wrote: post #327
URSpider94 wrote: post #325

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem comes with things like hotels and car rentals. For example, I'm staying in a hotel tonight, and they just authorized my credit card for $200 more than the nightly rate to cover incidentals (the notice came to my iPhone). If that were a debit card (or Privacy), they would have to pull the full amount from my checking account right away, and it could be days or weeks until they put it back. Since it's a cre…

You can put a hold on a debit card too without pulling the entire amount (they run an authorisation and release it immediately) I've used it to rent cars and hotel rooms, they do a check but the amount isn't 'blocked' off. In effect your statement looks just like a credit card.. There's absolutely no difference except with a credit card it's a borrowed balance. I'm not too aware of how cards are in the US but general…

US merchants don't do this. Most of the ones who take a deposit (hotels, car rental) have signs at the counter warning that they may put a substantial hold on your cash if you use a debit card, which won't be released for quite a while.

You are right -- if the card is bank-issued, then they can simply place a hold and release it without money flowing. With Privacy, it would seem they will need to actually pull the cash to be able to ensure that its there when the final charge comes through. Curious to see how this plays out.

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