Hashemian Blog Web Tools, Financial Markets, Technology Tuesday, July 21, 2009 Credit Card Foreign Transaction Fees  This is probably old news to some but it came as a surprise to me. As I have done so for many years, I booked a flight online with a foreign carrier with offices in the US and made a credit card payment in US Dollars. About a month later I got slapped with an unexplained foreign transaction fee. After some inquiry I was told that my credit card was charged in an overseas location, probably the airline's headquarters in their native country, and per new rules I had to pay this fee even though the amount charged was in US Dollars. Credit card companies have gotten real sneaky with their fees these days. In today's global economy when you make a purchase using a credit card, you can't be sure where, geographically speaking, your card may be charged. In my case, the order was probably routed to the carrier's datacenter in their native country. In past this was of no consequence as long as the amount was in US Dollars. But now the greedy credit card companies have decided to tack on additional fees for these cases. Something to be careful about the next time you make a purchase. The price you pay may not be the final price. What's next? Charging fees if you use your card outside your hometown? Seems silly, but nothing is beyond these shady companies when it comes to helping themselves to your hard-earned money. So much for the consumer protection laws. credit cards,credit card fees Labels: credit cards <Credit Card Foreign Transaction Fees> // posted by rh 0 comments Tuesday, April 15, 2008 Bank Service Agreement  Every time I receive a new service agreement from a bank or a credit card company I know they've devised a new way to profit from the consumers. Remember when many credit card companies shortened the payment cycles (grace periods) from a full month to three weeks or less. That was their ingenious way to snare more consumers into their penalty list, charge them extra interest, and jack up their interest rates. Or another time when they changed their dispute policies by curtailing consumers' right to lawsuits, replacing it with arbitration. No doubt their hand-picked arbitrators would always side with the banks, forcing consumers into unjust settlements. Here's another Service Agreement I received recently addressing online payments: We may delay or cancel a request to transfer or charge money back to the Pay From or other account at our discretion including if the payment: Looks suspicious or fraudulent Appears to have incorrect amount or recipient information Seems to duplicate another payment Of course this is spun to appear as if the bank is attempting to protect its clients against fraud. But what it's really saying is that the bank has given itself arbitrary and broad powers to do as it pleases, including charging fees, if it the transaction doesn't seem right, based on its own vague definition. Look at the verbs used: "Looks", "Appears", "Seems". What kind of rules are these? I mean why even bother with a service agreement? They should just replace all that with a terse statement like: "We will charge you whenever, however, and whatever amount we feel like. Have a nice day." service agreements,banks,credit cards,online banking Labels: credit cards, customer service <Bank Service Agreement> // posted by rh 0 comments Monday, July 02, 2007 Discover Card  My memory is hazy on this, but I think Discover Card was the first credit card I ever had. What I'm sure of is that Discover Card was the only credit card I carried in my wallet for years. I signed up for mine back in college years when credit card companies were just beginning to realize the untapped potential of revenue in college students. The Discover Card was a new arrival but it had an innovative approach. No annual fees and a cashback program and a slick slogan, "It pays to Discover." It instantly won me over and I started using it exclusively. Their plan was certainly paying off with me. As I graduated from college and entered the workforce and ramped up my expenses, Discover Card came along for the ride. But it wasn't meant to last. After some 15 years, I finally parted ways with Discover Card over a small dispute with a vendor. This happened a few years ago and the details of the dispute escape me, but what remained was the bitter taste of a credit card company taking the side of the merchant, rather than its long-time customer in good standing. I can understand Discover Card's reasons to go against me. I'm sure the vendor's business was substantially larger than my paltry charge-ups. But from my point of view I was wronged and by then the credit card landscape had caught up with Discover Card's benefits, so there was no reason for me not to jump. And jump I did, to a no-fee, cashback MasterCard and never looked back. As Discover Financial Services got its own stock symbol (DFS) today and begun trading on NYSE, I couldn't help reminisce of our long relationship and how it was derailed over a small charge. I wish Discover Card well, but I still don't miss it. discover card,mastercard,credit cards,merchant accounts Labels: business-finance, credit cards, customer service <Discover Card> // posted by rh 3 comments

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