BS: Wanna Take My Credit Card?

Subject: RE: BS: Wanna Take My Credit Card?
From: Mickey191
Date: 20 Apr 07 - 11:33 PM

SAW a tv show- telling that within 5 minutes of the card's info. being stolen; there are charges put on it from other countries.   

Another racket: The merchandise is dropped shipped to a lonely bachelor who believes he's receiving these goods from a beautiful young woman he met online. She of course has professed undying love for him. She explains these items must now be shipped abroad--at his expense.   She promises to pay the shipping charges when she comes to Podunk, Idaho to marry him. THe man shown, was out thousands of dollars. The girl to out to be a Nigerian male using a models picture.

Think we should go back to cash??

Subject: RE: BS: Wanna Take My Credit Card?
From: Bee
Date: 20 Apr 07 - 11:07 AM

I learned years ago not to use credit cards. I keep one for all the stupid things you can't do without one, like reserving accomodations, but never use it to buy stuff. I found the virtuous path of 'paying it off every month' to be a slippery slope that I don't have the grippy soles for!

Subject: RE: BS: Wanna Take My Credit Card?
From: Stringsinger
Date: 20 Apr 07 - 10:54 AM

We have gone from an industrial-based society to one that is financed by credit-card loans and sub-prime mortgages that are traded on Wall Street. Our jobs have disappeared overseas while a small group of financiers are reaping temporary benefits while our country is headed toward a major depression. The working poor are growing, bankruptcies are growing and the housing market is tumbling.

The credit industry however is doing well.

Frank Hamilton

Subject: RE: BS: Wanna Take My Credit Card?
From: mack/misophist
Date: 20 Apr 07 - 10:39 AM

I recently heard that Visa has a 'gift' card. (I don't pay much attention to these things.) Some one on another forum said that they use a US$400 card for all on line purchases, which automaticaly limits loss and liability. An attractive idea. Even if your card is insured, I imagine the hassles could be daunting.

Subject: BS: Wanna Take My Credit Card?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 20 Apr 07 - 06:00 AM

A few of our people may be in the business of accepting credit card payments, and may be interested in "new standards" that are emerging(?).

From a recent newsletter (18 APR 2007):

"The last several years have seen an unprecedented assault on personal and financial data that customers have knowingly or unwittingly entrusted to retailers, banks, service providers and credit card companies. To counter this onslaught, the payment card industry created a homegrown security initiative that is at once broader in scope and more granular in its requirements than any measures additional government regulation might have imposed. The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI) is a comprehensive security standard that establishes common processes and precautions for handling, processing, storing and transmitting credit card data."

A "White Paper" is offered at:

Winning the PCI Compliance Battle - A Guide for Merchants and Member Service Providers from Qualys. The link is to a download site where there are several other items listed that may or may not be of interest. From that site, there's a "Download" button that gets you a PDF, 7 pages, 304 KB.

No registration required for the download, so far as I can see. (the site has my particulars from previous "logins" but didn't ask for it this time).

The first couple of pages, where the "PCI requirements" for persons and/or businesses accepting credit card payments are outlined, will be most likely to be of inteest. The rest is largely a sales pitch, but may be interesting as a "sample" of what's available, although I think that the system pitched is aimed at larger mass-marketing systems.

There are some pretty scary "specs" for small businesses, that may be worth being aware of, although individual circumstances will determine whether they really apply to anyone's business.

Those concerned can take a look at the paper. The rest of us will likely just p. & m. about the sad state of the credit industry.

John