31–40 of 130 posts
The logistics of drop safes and daily deposits plus losses due to counterfeiting, robberies and pilfering can cost a similar amount to the 3-4% credit card fees.
That's why merchants aren't grumbling too much.
I've thought about this "problem" and decided there's no problem. You're solving a non-problem if you try to solve credit card fraud. The reason we don't deal with credit card fraud is that there are no consequences for being a victim, for any definition of victim. If the victims had consequences, then there would be demand for action. But there is none. Further, because there are no consequences, the cost to solve c…
If you have a viewpoint that is polar opposite to how everybody else understands something, maybe it's your obligation to explain it better. And saying that you're in some form of authority to speak about the subject isn't an explanation.
Some banks will let you generate single-use credit card numbers (e.g., Chase). So you have one CC # for the power company, a different one for Netflix, and so forth. Then if e.g., Netflix gets hacked you can just cancel that one card number. You can also generate cards with hard spending limits, cards that only work for a specific merchant, etc. And of course you can delete them anytime. Its a pretty good system. Tha…
But I don't think anyone wants to give customers this wallet-like capability..
In this hypothetical rational world, you would go to the government office when you needed to open a new payment account to make or receive payments. You would show proof of identity, and receive a duly signed certificate bound to a a hardware token of a standard type that you could then use to make transactions both on and offline. Since everybody would use the same systems there would be no questions about if someone could pay you.
But in this world, government securing the currency is regarded as an outmoded and dangerous idea, unless it's a bailout...
It's easy to envision a future without this inherent problem -- it's PayPal, it's Dwolla, or any other service where payments are pushed instead of pulled. If you pay someone with PayPal, online or off, you don't leave them with anything they (or the hacker that steals the store's DB) can use to charge you again in the future. For recurring payments, in the background all you're giving out are tokens you can revoke a…
I've thought about this "problem" and decided there's no problem. You're solving a non-problem if you try to solve credit card fraud. The reason we don't deal with credit card fraud is that there are no consequences for being a victim, for any definition of victim. If the victims had consequences, then there would be demand for action. But there is none. Further, because there are no consequences, the cost to solve c…
You are being downvoted because it is generally understood that there are indeed rather serious consequences for victims of credit card fraud[1]. If you have a viewpoint that is polar opposite to how everybody else understands something, maybe it's your obligation to explain it better. And saying that you're in some form of authority to speak about the subject isn't an explanation. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cr…
Incorrect. There are no serious consequences for the victims of credit card fraud (unless you consider the victims to be the merchants).
When fraud takes place, the credit card company removes the bill from your statement. Then they take the money back that they sent to the merchant. The merchant is left holding the bag. Whatever they sold is now gone, and they have no money to cover the cost of that good. The merchants bear the entire risk of credit card fraud.
This is why it makes no sense that credit card companies even threaten to charge merchants higher rates if they have more fraud. Merchants with high chargebacks get beaten down in multiple ways. First there's a chargeback fee. Then they raise your processing rates. AND you still lose out on your goods that were stolen.
(Technically I suppose if the fraud is big enough, the merchant could be insolvent in which case the credit card companies bear the burden, but this is certainly an exception).
I've thought about this "problem" and decided there's no problem. You're solving a non-problem if you try to solve credit card fraud. The reason we don't deal with credit card fraud is that there are no consequences for being a victim, for any definition of victim. If the victims had consequences, then there would be demand for action. But there is none. Further, because there are no consequences, the cost to solve c…
The merchants are the victims, and the consequences include lost payments, lost merchandise, chargeback fees, lost cashflow when the merchant account provider starts requiring a risk reserve, and lost cashflow when their account gets terminated for exceeding the acceptable chargeback ratio. It can even lead to loss of the entire business. How is that not a consequence of credit card fraud?
There is no solution for credit card fraud because the credit card companies do not pay the bulk of the fraud that happens. I have been the subject of fraud both as a merchant and as a consumer and in both cases i was the one that paid.
I've thought about this "problem" and decided there's no problem. You're solving a non-problem if you try to solve credit card fraud. The reason we don't deal with credit card fraud is that there are no consequences for being a victim, for any definition of victim. If the victims had consequences, then there would be demand for action. But there is none. Further, because there are no consequences, the cost to solve c…
On the consumer side, I had to waste time ringing the bank, going through the chargeback process, getting a new card, not be able to use the card for a little while, etc.
On the merchant side, you waste time fighting the chargeback, and then if the chargeback goes through, you lose both the money and the goods.
So when you say there are no consequences for victims, it doesn't make sense to me... Could you elaborate?
To expand upon the author's idea, the problem is not just that credit card data is reusable, but that possession of credit card data amounts to permission to charge any arbitrary amount to it . Not legal permission, mind you, but permission in the sense that the infrastructure lets you do it, and you have to sort out the consequences through social/legal channels after the fact. Not only should future payment systems…