Amazon to stop accepting UK Visa credit cards • Hacker News Board

Re: Amazon to stop accepting UK Visa credit cards

#201

Post by cjrp » Wed, Nov 17, 2021, 11:52 AM UTC

swarnie wrote: post #163

mattowen_uk wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Never owned a credit card, don't have the slightest wish to do so. Bizarrely, never owning a credit card will negatively impact your credit rating.

Such a broken system..... I have to spend everything on a credit card, then when i get home from shopping 45 minutes later go and pay it off using a debt card. Its so unfriendly for the consumer.

I've not seen a credit card where you can't automatically pay the full balance by direct debit each month. You do still have to do some maths (actual balance = current account balance - card balance) but I don't worry about it not being paid off.

Re: Amazon to stop accepting UK Visa credit cards

#202

Post by caf » Wed, Nov 17, 2021, 11:52 AM UTC

gambiting wrote: post #116

ericyan wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, the catch is "if a merchant accepts..." I live in the Netherlands and biggest supermarket chain here, Albert Heijn, is strictly Mastro-only. This is not a problem for the locals, but you will find angry reviews left by tourists on pretty much every ah branch in Amsterdam on Google Maps.

Sure, and in theory that should be the prime example of "free market" at work - merchant doesn't want to accept visa/mastercard? They will lose customers then, if that's acceptable to them then that's their choice.

Same if they pass on the card costs to the customers though - card user doesn't want to pay the true cost of using their card, they can choose to shop elsewhere.

Re: Amazon to stop accepting UK Visa credit cards

#203

Post by lmm » Wed, Nov 17, 2021, 11:52 AM UTC

00deadbeef wrote: post #54

aigo wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fun fact: At M&S, 12% of payments taken online for delivery to London addresses are paid by Amex. The rest of the country? <3%.

Any idea why Amex would be so popular in London? I'd never even consider an Amex card due to my perception of it being something that many places won't even accept.

Amex is positioned as a premium card for high earners, who mostly live in London.

Re: Amazon to stop accepting UK Visa credit cards

#204

Post by 88 » Wed, Nov 17, 2021, 11:52 AM UTC

gambiting wrote: post #113

toyg wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uk here, I use credit cards for everything. Used wisely, consumer credit is incredibly useful. Example: bought a 4k motorbike, dealer finance or savings drawdown would have cost me hundreds; slapped it all on an 18-months 0% card and am now slowly repaying it on my own schedule, at no extra cost, while happily riding the thing.

Yeah of course, I do the same thing - when I said I use mine "very rarely" I meant that I use it for things like buying laptops or other expensive things, to use the 0% interest period. I just don't know anyone who actually uses it for day to day purchases from amazon and such, I just use my debit card for that.

Using a credit card in this way could be negatively impacting your credit rating.

You can be dinged both for having credit and not using it in a given month, as well as exceeding a certain threshold (~10%?) of your credit limit.

Re: Amazon to stop accepting UK Visa credit cards

#205

Post by gambiting » Wed, Nov 17, 2021, 11:53 AM UTC

tazjin wrote: post #184

oarsinsync wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> well, if you make sure to forbid negative balances on the spending account I'm unaware of a UK bank that will let you do this, so...

Monzo. It's the default in fact, since in order to get an overdraft you need to do a credit application.

I'm with Barclays and Lloyds, and neither can go into negative(well, technically they can I suppose, but it's extremely hard to do. Any debit card or direct debit transaction will just get declined if it's about to go below 0).

Re: Amazon to stop accepting UK Visa credit cards

#206

Post by gtirloni » Wed, Nov 17, 2021, 11:53 AM UTC

azalemeth wrote: post #146

toyg wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bootstrapping a worldwide payment system is very, very expensive.

If anything, that's an argument in favour of the whole thing being government controlled -- it's clearly a natural monopoly with a large capital expenditure requirement and a comparatively minimal (as a percentage of transactions) ongoing charge required to continue to run it. I mean, it clearly doesn't cost Visa / MC any more to make a £/$/€45 000 payment than a £/$/€5 one – database writes are not cheaper or more e…

Brazil has gone that route with PIX [0]. It's a fund transfer system with realtime confirmation. Many e-commerce stores accept it besides debit/credit, they can confirm the payment almost instantaneously and they usually give discounts if you use PIX instead of debit/credit (3-10%).

Also, paying at stores, clinics, doctors, etc.. all done with PIX nowadays. Very few people are carrying cash these days. Very few clinics had a payment machine to accept debit/credit cards and now with PIX they have no incentive to do so anymore.

To transfer funds, you can specify the user's ID (which can be a phone number, national tax identification or some random string the user creates). To pay for purchases, you usually scan a QR code or copy a payment string using your bank's app/website. It's very convenient.

0 - https://www.bcb.gov.br/en/financialstability/pix_en

Re: Amazon to stop accepting UK Visa credit cards

#207

Post by cjrp » Wed, Nov 17, 2021, 11:54 AM UTC

nly wrote: post #157

pittmajp wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about all the free money you're leaving off the table in miles and cash back? I've had a credit card for about 3 years, and while it isn't much, I've never paid a dime in interest and I'm up roughly $800.

Perks on credit cards in the UK are almost non existent because the fees are so low compared to he US. Historically the EU regulated to crush credit card transaction fees. That said, I do get annual cashback of 1% on one of my cards.

Cashback perks aren't great, but the airline credit cards are quite good if you'll definitely use the miles.

Re: Amazon to stop accepting UK Visa credit cards

#208

Post by gambiting » Wed, Nov 17, 2021, 11:54 AM UTC

88 wrote: post #204

gambiting wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah of course, I do the same thing - when I said I use mine "very rarely" I meant that I use it for things like buying laptops or other expensive things, to use the 0% interest period. I just don't know anyone who actually uses it for day to day purchases from amazon and such, I just use my debit card for that.

Using a credit card in this way could be negatively impacting your credit rating. You can be dinged both for having credit and not using it in a given month, as well as exceeding a certain threshold (~10%?) of your credit limit.

I have two credit cards, one of them I haven't used in 5 years at all, the other I use as described, and according to Credit Karma my credit rating is 690 our of 700. We just remortgaged the house too without any issue.

So yeah, I don't think I care too much about my credit rating at all, it doesn't seem to be affected by this in the sligtest.

Re: Amazon to stop accepting UK Visa credit cards

#209

Post by simonh » Wed, Nov 17, 2021, 11:54 AM UTC

gambiting wrote: post #88

input_sh wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's why: two debit cards, one for receiving money, one for spending money. Automated payment from the 1st one to the 2nd one once a month with a fixed amount you expect to spend in a month. Nothing to pay off, you're spending your own money, can't be overcharged, can't go below zero, if someone leaks your spending card they can't touch the majority of your money, no scummy business practices. Never owned a credit…

>>one for receiving money, What do you mean debit card for receiving money? In what sense? >> Automated payment from the 1st one to the 2nd one Again, I have absolutely no idea what you mean by that. Payment from a debit card to a debit card? What?

I take it they're separate accounts.

Re: Amazon to stop accepting UK Visa credit cards

#210

Post by BitterAmethyst » Wed, Nov 17, 2021, 11:55 AM UTC

em10fan wrote: post #12

barrkel wrote: post #2

I cannot believe that Visa transaction overhead would be higher than Amex - there's something going on behind the scenes here. I don't think this is the end of it either, it smells like a negotiation threat. Visa have a larger market share overall (80%, including debit cards [1]) but Mastercard leads in credit cards. Amex has always been fairly niche because it's not accepted everywhere. [1] https://www.statista.com/…

Quite the opposite in the UK, at least over the last 10 years or so. 99% of debit cards are Visa, and most people buying stuff on Amazon would be using a debit card, folks only really use credit cards for large purchases and things like travel, here. Even when it comes to credit cards, I would say Mastercard has like a large chunk - like 80% in terms of institutions (but who knows in terms of actual customers), I wou…

Nationwide's credit cards use Visa.