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Amazon to stop accepting UK Visa credit cards

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Re: Amazon to stop accepting UK Visa credit cards

#311

Post by b112 »

chanc3e wrote: post #295
stuaxo wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, it's true in the UK. I had this issue, and had to get a credit card and buy stuff on it for a year... basically without using credit you may not have a credit rating. I always lose my cards and have to get them replaced, so have been back on just a debit card for a few years now.

Can second this. I had to get a credit card as mortgage got denied because my credit record didn't exist. Three months after the card, I got approved. This is despite me earning an extravagant wage relative to my age for over a decade and never missing rent/utilities/council tax. Bad system.

I think this is being misstated by GP.

It isn't that a lack of credit card hurts your credit rating, but that a lack of any credit hurts your credit rating in Canada or the US.

There are other ways to get an initial credit rating than a credit card, although I agree that this is the path most easy, and chosen by many to get that first rating.

The method I employed, was to buy a car and had a parent cosign. I made all the payments, and this was enough to kick start, and give me at good credit rating.

Re: Amazon to stop accepting UK Visa credit cards

#312

Post by Symbiote »

robjan wrote: post #181
iampims wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And merchant add 2% to their base price which amounts to everyone not using a credit card “subsidizing” the benefits to all credit card users.

The cost of handling cash is similar to handling a credit card transaction

And the cost of handling a debit card transaction is less than either of these.

In bits of Europe where it's allowed (like here in Denmark), it's not unusual for shops to add a percentage to the total for payments by local credit card, business credit card and/or foreign credit card. I haven't yet seen a shop with a different price for cash vs debit cards.

Re: Amazon to stop accepting UK Visa credit cards

#313

Post by Reason077 »

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/…

> "I cannot believe that Visa transaction overhead would be higher than Amex - there's something going on behind the scenes here."

Especially considering that card transaction fees (in the EU and UK) are capped by the Interchange Fee Regulation (IFR) [1]

But I suppose Amazon processes card payments in such huge volumes that they expect to get rates below the cap limits (0.2% for debit cards and 0.3% for credit cards), or Visa are applying excessive additional fees outside of the interchange fee?

[1] https://www.psr.org.uk/our-work/card-payments/the-ifr/

Re: Amazon to stop accepting UK Visa credit cards

#314

Post by oarsinsync »

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.

There's a difference between having an arranged overdraft, and being able to have a negative balance (also known as an unarranged overdraft).

Monzo's own help pages explicitly state that your balance can go into the negative, because offline debit card payments will not be rejected. They'll also gladly take you into the negative if you owe them money (e.g. through a Monzo Plus or Premium sub, or use their Flex service).

Search Monzo help for "Unarranged Overdrafts".

As far as I'm aware, there is no UK bank that will guarantee they will reject all payments and never let you go into a negative balance on a debit card transaction. This is also a profit centre for them, so there's little motivation to actually do so.

Re: Amazon to stop accepting UK Visa credit cards

#315

Post by mrep »

chinathrow wrote: post #31

I'd love to see a drill down of how exact the credit card scheme works regarding fees. Like who is paid what exactly by whom. Is this somewhere available?

patio11 has articles on it. I would recommend the "How credit cards make money" one: https://news.ycombinator.com/from?site=kalzumeus.com

Re: Amazon to stop accepting UK Visa credit cards

#317

Post by baq »

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.

it is possible if a terminal accepts a transaction without connecting to the payment processor (small, contactless transactions can do that).

Re: Amazon to stop accepting UK Visa credit cards

#318

Post by toyg »

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…

> If anything, that's an argument in favour of the whole thing being government controlled

Absolutely, and I kinda expect this to become the case eventually across Europe, as the "cashless society" vision becomes inevitable. If you make it de-facto compulsory for citizens to operate electronically, it's only fair that there should be the sort of guarantees and accountability that only the State can provide, even if you lose a bit of innovation or efficiency.

Re: Amazon to stop accepting UK Visa credit cards

#319

Post by skeeter2020 »

MomoXenosaga wrote: post #287
c16 wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The flip side to this is using something like an Amex which offers insurance, points, business lounge access and much more. Set up the card with diret debit (much like your automated payments) and never spend above what you can afford. You now have perks, points, insurance, consumer protection and still zero worries.

You are paying for these "perks" and no I don't need insurance when I'm buying an electronic toothbrush from Amazon thank you very much.

not typically unless you carry a balance. The merchant pays regardless if you use a credit or debit card, only the rate changes.

Re: Amazon to stop accepting UK Visa credit cards

#320

Post by [deleted] »

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.

[deleted]
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