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Thread ID: 124159	2012-04-10 07:52:00	Security Code on Credit Cards.	mzee (3324)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
1269179	2012-04-13 23:28:00	It's getting like that here too. Most places where you ask "Do you accept American Express?" you either get "NO!!!" or "I dunno". We use it because you get double the amount of rewards points than using Visa. That is where the problem is. You don't think AMEX sends you THEIR money for free do you? They extract it from the merchants first at a few points or so higher than they rebate. After all - they need to have handling and processing fees to refund you 60% of what they extract. A lot of gas stations here won't even accept CREDIT transactions, instead opting for DEBIT-types since there's no origination fees nor rebates to the consumer. In California, it's illegal to have two-tiered pricing on fuel, so credit cards are usually eschewed. Not ALL stations do refuse them - but the ones that accept CC's you can be sure they have it all factored into the final cost. Stay away from stations that take credit cards if you don't want to pay more for nothing with cash or a debit card. You won't get a discount! My credit cards take any miniscule rebates I get and deposits them in a "Tiny Saver's" account that swamps over after it hits $250.00.	SurferJoe46 (51)
1269180	2012-04-14 00:05:00	For any CCs. Travel agents here have known to charge me a hundred odd dollars for a intl ticket in the past. AirNZ website charges $50-60 althou you can opt out if you pay via normal bank card. I have compared programs before. The AMEX is a bit more generous maybe by 50% more. You also need to know for the points you get, what rewards can you get and then the ratio. Some people get the real AMEX card that is issued by AMEX directly. Their loyalty program actually requires maybe a optional $50-100 annual loyalty fee per year on top of the annual membership fee. The AMEX credit card fee is not that bad. If you get the "charge card" the annual fee could be $300 to as high as $1500 for Platinum. The best way to get points is to look for specials/bonuses. Usually it's not that great. If you go for airline CCs. One of the Amex does give you 1 point per $75. A Amex bank branded gives you per $66. (GlobalPlus). Visa/MCs per $100. 1 point is $1 (dollar) b/c that's what AirNZ uses. Travel related only. It really works out if you have your own business or have huge expenses. If you only spend maybe $5-10k per year bugger all really. Note that National Bank has 1$ cash back that's real cash into your account for anything you want. Or 1% back for the amount you spent. So these programes provides you $1 for $66-100 that you spent. But OTOH: I think ANZ is it .. has a Visa Platinum that gives a point per $75. They are related to AirNZ as well. "Pine-o-cleen" are you on the Westpac programme ... I have not done but just also check the points required for Westpac and how it compares to other programmes. Ie., usually how much needs to be spent get a free fare to Auckland or overseas or a night in a hotel or that water boiler. Diff programmes will work differently.	Nomad (952)
1269181	2012-04-14 00:20:00	Not all sites ask for the CVV code when purchasing. So, kind of lame then.............. There was a woman on PressF1 here quite a few years ago that reckoned the effort of having her site using it wasn't worth it. Well if she wasn't prepared to make a conscious effort to improve security she wasn't going to get any dollars from me.	mikebartnz (21)
1269182	2012-04-14 05:01:00	For any CCs. "Pine-o-cleen" are you on the Westpac programme ... I have not done but just also check the points required for Westpac and how it compares to other programmes. Ie., usually how much needs to be spent get a free fare to Auckland or overseas or a night in a hotel or that water boiler. Diff programmes will work differently. Westpac runs a points scheme called 'hotpoints'. We get 1 point for every $20 spent on Visa, 2 points for every $20 on Amex. Basically, a point ~= 20c.	pine-o-cleen (2955)
1269183	2012-04-14 22:20:00	So a $1 per $100 spent. For most people it's not that beneficial and overtime programmes can devalue that they could increase the points required to get rewards or that you need to spend more to get the points like what has happened with AirNZ Airpoints. And with many of the programmes they cannot be received as cash. On that ratio $10k PA gets a $100 which pays back a Gold card annual fee (and it provides the compl. insurance) with restrictions of course. At least with one of them I found that if the airfare was too cheap you may not even get insurance unless maybe you had a Platinum card which might not have that restriction. And if you spent $20k PA you might get $100 worth of rewards back for what you want ... Many could actually spent less to begin with.	Nomad (952)
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