Re: credit card conventional wisdom (fwd)
Date: Wed, 15 Nov 1995 18:07:25 -0800 From: Tom Wills <twills@eit.COM> To: Simon Spero <ses@tipper.oit.unc.edu> Subject: Re: credit card conventional wisdom (fwd) The printed digits above the embossed account number are the first four digits of the BIN (on Visa cards) or ICA (on MasterCards). They are there to discourage re-embossing of the card with another account number. Original Message:
Wow, you learn something every day. I've never in my whole life (well, my American Express life, over 15 years) noticed those four digits. I've never been asked for them by anyone, or noticed them being written down, either. Exactly when and how are they used?
Further info: The AMEX digits aren't part of the standard info- someone I spoke to who started off as a grey box programmer said that he thought they were just process control. Card-present/Card-not-present can be determined from info on the magnetic stripe; for visa cards, this info is stored in a three-digit checksum at the end of the discretionary info. Card Imprints taken with no online authorisation are typically charged a transaction fee of 3-6%: with authorisation, 1.5-3%. ATM card transactions are charged at around $0.10 per transaction. Simon
Card Imprints taken with no online authorisation are typically charged a transaction fee of 3-6%: with authorisation, 1.5-3%. ATM card transactions are charged at around $0.10 per transaction.
are you saying that a typical mail order credit card transaction has a 3-6% charge, because the card is not physically present? this is a rather shockingly high rate. again, what I have been calling the "fraud tax"-- it's hidden in every purchase we make, and when we increase credit card security it will increasingly be dissipated. but the problem is that no one realizes this in general, and will argue, "why should we do anything to prevent fraud? we are already not paying for it right now, why should credit card companies spend any money to prevent it?" BZZZZZZZT I suspect these invisible fraud taxes are quite significant in general and someone could really become very wealthy by inventing a system that decreased them. you might increasingly see retailers offer a "safe card discount"-- some brand of credit card charges them less transaction overhead, and they pass these savings onto the customer. or, the credit card company could send the money back to you like Discover does.
"Vladimir Z. Nuri" <vznuri@netcom.com> said:
Card Imprints taken with no online authorisation are typically charged a transaction fee of 3-6%: with authorisation, 1.5-3%. ATM card transactions are charged at around $0.10 per transaction.
VZN> are you saying that a typical mail order credit card transaction VZN> has a 3-6% charge, because the card is not physically present? No, s/he was talking about merchants who verify that you have the credit available (online authorization) vs those who trust you to have it (no online authorization). As I understand it, the fee is 'insurance' that the merchant will be paid - as long as there is no fraud on the part of the merchant, it will receive payment, even if the charge was invalid, because the card was canceled/stolen/over limit/etc. The lower charge for online authorization is because when the charge comes back approved, the CC company is able to verify that the credit is there. This isn't foolproof (2 separate charges, each under the available credit, can be approved even if the total exceeds the available credit), but it's more than the offline merchants can do. -- #include <disclaimer.h> /* Sten Drescher */ To get my PGP public key, send me email with your public key and Subject: PGP key exchange Key fingerprint = 90 5F 1D FD A6 7C 84 5E A9 D3 90 16 B2 44 C4 F3
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participants (4)
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Greg_Rose＠sibelius.sydney.sterling.com -
Simon Spero -
Sten Drescher -
Vladimir Z. Nuri