Harold Hallikainen wrote:

> Banks are fun! A friend runs a business that accepts credit cards. He
> received a $6k order from Singapore. He checked with the credit card
> company, and they said the card was good. He shipped the order. Several
> months later, they took the $6k back out of his bank account because the
> card had been reported stolen. So, he's out the $6k. On top of that,
> because of this one bad charge, he has a bad "chargeback ratio," so they
> will not release any money to him from his credit card sales until either
> six months or $100,000 has been accumulated (I guess that fixes the
> ratio).

I'm not sure what to think about this complaint... While I know it can be a
pain when it hits you, most of the incidents like the above and what
Vitaliy is now passing through are exactly according to the rules people
read (did they, no?) when opening such accounts. It seems most people don't
get too upset when they open an account and read that there is a $48
overdraft fee... that is only for the losers, right? And I'm no loser,
right? :)

This is like gambling in a government lottery. Some have called this a tax
for... hm, they used a non-PC term here, I'll just say "special type of
fun". Same thing with these bank fees... I select a bank with a fee
structure that suits me. I've been with banks that are quite inexpensive
but charge extremely high fees for anything out of the line. Well, I
thought about it, and thought that it's worth it to make sure I don't go
out of the line. The ones who do pay part of my fees there. If you think
you can't make certain you don't, use another bank with a more "forgiving"
fee structure. It's all about clear rules and freedom of choice. (Free
market, so to speak... :)

Same thing with credit cards. There is a cost to it, both for the one who
has one and for the one who accepts CC payments. AFAIK the incident above
is fully according to their normal rules that should be known to everybody
who accepts CCs. People can't have it both ways... most sure like that they
can complain to their CC company and cancel a payment 2 months later, or
just tell them that their card was lost and don't have to pay anything that
was bought with that card. But that then translates to a burden on the
other side... No free lunch, at least not when it's about finances.

Now, as Wouter says, the reason why CCs are so necessary in the USA is
another story :)

Gerhard

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