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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

#361

Post by david_allison »

blowski wrote: post #22
em10fan wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Other than some occasional small restaurants/pubs, and a few small indie shops, its basically accepted everywhere here in Edinburgh, I have a corporate amex and use it for expensing business dinners very often, and supplies from office shops, supermarkets, etc..

I used to have a corporate Amex, and it was a nightmare to use it in London. Even in places that said they accepted it, when I attempted to pay the card reader rejected it. That was about 5 years ago, maybe times have changed - it would be great to see data rather than a mixture of anecdotes.

Was your card Chip & PIN? Didn't have a problem with my British-issued Amex in London 5 years ago.

Re: Amazon to stop accepting UK Visa credit cards

#362

Post by tumetab1 »

tumetab1 wrote: post #270
azalemeth wrote: post #110

I really don't get why we accept this de-facto tax on the world economy by US companies. Amex, Visa and Mastercard are all based in the US, and all charge a (nowadays) non-negotiable fee on selling anything. Cash has many problems, and clearly won't work for online purchases, but at least small business owners could pay their employees "out of the till" at the end of the week, bypassing bank transaction fees and a fa…

Because regulations which goverments supports because they prefer digital transactions to physical money for several reasons. (EU country perspective) By VISA/ MasterCard contract backed by governments' regulations a merchant in EU can not charge more because he's using a card instead of cash. Of course the transactions costs are paid by the customer, it's just all customers instead of those paying by card. That's wh…

To clarify, it seems that transactions costs vary a lot in the EU. I have the prices in Portugal for 2 terminal payments provider and I see lot of comissions around 2% which is strange because the EU states that the comissions are much lower.

No idea what's going here.

Re: Amazon to stop accepting UK Visa credit cards

#363

Post by tim333 »

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…

>99% of debit cards are Visa [in the UK]

Not quite that bad. In 2019 it was 82% visa 17% mc

and since there has been a move towards mastercard. My main bank, FirstDirect switched my debit card over this year. I also use Wise which is also with mastercard.

Re: Amazon to stop accepting UK Visa credit cards

#364

Post by PeterisP »

orra wrote: post #324
Reason077 wrote: post #313

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "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)…

The UK has hinted it wants to increase the cap, as a “Brexit dividend”.

Why would a larger cap benefit the UK or its government in any way? It's not like the "dividend" would be received by them, it's an effective +1% tax on all payments from consumers to the banks.

Re: Amazon to stop accepting UK Visa credit cards

#365

Post by tigershark »

nixass wrote: post #308
maccard wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are many amex cards which don't have any fees, they even have a filter for them on their website [0] https://www.americanexpress.com/uk/credit-cards/all-cards/?i...

Amex is terrible card in EU. High fees, many places rejecting it, I see no real reason why to use Amex over Visa or Master/Maestro

1.25% cashback.

Re: Amazon to stop accepting UK Visa credit cards

#366

Post by TheOtherHobbes »

maccard wrote: post #261
gifnamething wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Expecting someone to lend you 6 figures when you've never displayed any ability to repay 2 is far more bizarre.

A credit rating basically isn't considered for a mortgage in the UK. They will check a report, and maybe request you pay outstanding debts (I was asked to clear my CC balance before completion both times), but unless you have a fraud marker or are bankrupt it won't affect you. Mortgages are secured on the asset, so it's far less risky than a personal loan of 5x less - the bank can seize the asset and force the sale o…

Most UK CC T&Cs state explicitly "If you have a home, we will go after it if you default." Personal loans have similar recourse.

Neither are truly unsecured. It just takes longer than an outright repossession because it takes two or three court claims instead of just one.

The debt collection industry relies on this, and regularly forces sales of property to pay back CC and other debts.

So CCs are disastrous for people who can't pay their debts. Not only are the interest rates extortionate, but for lenders they're almost as safe as a secured loan. And because of the high rates they can be considerably more profitable.

Re: Amazon to stop accepting UK Visa credit cards

#367

Post by tim333 »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #303
kall wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"We“ don‘t. In the EU, the base fee is capped at 0.2% (debit) and 0.3% (credit) which sounds reasonable for what they provide.

Which doesn’t apply in the UK post Brexit, hence this situation. The UK could cram down interchange fees (such that the EU had) with their own regulation if they don’t want merchants banning rent seeking payment networks.

Following Brexit they'll probably be able to jack it up by offering consulting roles to Tory politicians.

Re: Amazon to stop accepting UK Visa credit cards

#368

Post by ethbr0 »

input_sh wrote: post #79
mrec wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> most people buying stuff on Amazon would be using a debit card, folks only really use credit cards for large purchases Huh? I'm in the UK, have been an Amazon customer for over 20 years and have always used a credit card for everything. I didn't even know you could use a debit card, and can't see any reason you'd want to. Paid off in full every month, better consumer protection, what's not to like?

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…

Do UK credit cards typically offer cash back?

In the US, 2%+ on all purchases (either directly or through points) is pretty standard. Going up to 5%+.

But I know this can be very different in other countries. I believe Japan has little to no incentives?

Re: Amazon to stop accepting UK Visa credit cards

#369

Post by tryptophan »

azalemeth wrote: post #110

I really don't get why we accept this de-facto tax on the world economy by US companies. Amex, Visa and Mastercard are all based in the US, and all charge a (nowadays) non-negotiable fee on selling anything. Cash has many problems, and clearly won't work for online purchases, but at least small business owners could pay their employees "out of the till" at the end of the week, bypassing bank transaction fees and a fa…

I wonder what will happen when fedNow goes live.

https://www.frbservices.org/financial-services/fednow/about....

It will be a cheap/free, instant, money sending service. What will be the point of visa/mastercard/paypal then?

Re: Amazon to stop accepting UK Visa credit cards

#370

Post by mattowen_uk »

b112 wrote: post #311
chanc3e wrote: post #295

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Ah but, for most people it's easier to get a low-limit credit card in the UK, than it is to get any other unsecured loan.

I also didn't say 'you need a credit card to get a good credit score', I said not having one will negatively impact your score. This is 100% correct; Your credit score is made up of various metrics on how you manage debt, one of which is credit cards. You will get a % boost if you have a card that you manage well, whereas without a credit card, you will get no boost at all in that category. Granted, you may make up for it overall in other categories, but in the main, for most people, my statement still stands. Credit scores start at 0, and only improve if you show you can manage debt across multiple products.

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