Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with creditcards

How to build credit from ZERO when you're 24?

raygan — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 12:50:13 -0800

I'm 24 and have (apparently) no credit history. Nothing on it. Nada. I'm trying to get some kind of credit to start building up some credit history, but I keep getting turned down for cards. How can I build credit when it seems like nothing I do is being reported to credit bureaus? I've been trying to get a credit card lately, just for emergencies and also to start building up some kind of credit history. My bank turned me down, even though I have a job, a lease, and a balance with them of over $7000. Discover turned me down. A couple of store cards have turned me down as well, all due to "Limited Credit History."

Thing is, I've been working and paying bills of one kind or another for years. I graduated from college without ever taking out a loan and my father was always very anti-credit-card, so I never even thought about taking out a student card.

I looked up my credit report, and it lists zero possibly negative items and zero accounts in good standing. It also lists a very old address. I've talked to Experian about updating the address, which looks like it's a rather complicated process. What else can I do?!

(Extra info: I live with three roommates in NYC. My name is on the lease, and I pay the cable bill, but my name is not on the electric or gas bill, and I'm still freeloading on my father's family plan for phone service.)

Should I call my CC company to work something out if I recently became unemployed?

Anonymous — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:28:13 -0800

I recently (the 12th) was laid off, is it worthwhile calling credit card companies to suspend payments or work out a lower interest rates until I'm employed again? I have a large amount of debt from an ill-fated freelance photography "gig" and general overspending. I never signed up for those credit monitoring/in-case-of-emergency programs for $10 a month (wish I had). Do CC companies work with people, or will this simply cause the companies I call and the companies they work with to slash my available credit?

Thanks guys.....

A wordpress site where customers can log in to their account.

brenton — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 22:13:01 -0800

A wordpress plugin to make a "customer login" section. Ok, I know it's weird to ask this on mefi, but after failing elsewhere on the net, I thought I'd give it a try.

My wordpress site sells one and only one product, which is renewed weekly (aka a subscription).

I want the customer to fill out some data that I want, then they're taken to paypal to pay (and they have to fill out some new data [like credit card info] which I don't care about seeing, though some of it is redundant [name] so it'd be nice if that was pre-polulated in the paypal page). (By the way, this is a small operation so I can't afford to "upgrade" paypal beyond "website payments standard.")

Then later, customers can come back, log into their "my account" section, and make changes: like updates to their name or address, or canceling their subscription.

Also, I want access to all the data about all my customers.

There has to be a wordpress plugin that does something like this. I've tried a few e-commerce plugins, but they all failed in one way or another... what advice does metafilter have for me?

How do I get out of this credit mess?

Anonymous — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 14:36:43 -0800

Credit collection agencies. Should I call and make an offer? Help me get out of this mess. Hello,

Please call me Maxed. Replies can go here or to maxedcredit@gmail.com.

My wife and I have had some difficult times over the past few years with credit cards. A lot of it was our fault, some of it was due to circumstances beyond our control. Regardless of fault, we’re maxed out, in collection, and watching our credit rating sink faster than we can blink.

Obviously, we want to repair our credit and do the right thing. In the mail, I have received two letters that appear to be from collections agencies affiliated with the credit card company.

---------------

Letter #1:
From Client Services, Inc. re: Citiban Professional MasterCard. Balance due: $7,056.28
“I am forwarding this letter to confirm that our client has agreed to accept $2469.70 as settlement in full for the above obligation. This offer is valid provided the full amount of this settlement is received within 10 days from the date of this letter. If the amount written off is equal or greater than $600, our client may be required to report this amount and issue a form 1099-C.”

Letter #2
From Pentagroup Financial re: Citifnancial Mastercard, Balance due: $3600.15.
“The account listed above has not been paid and has been placed with this agency for collection. Please remit the entire outstanding balance using the return envelope provided. Unless you notify this office within 30 days after receiving this notice that you dispute the validity of the dbet, this office will assume the debit is valid.”

------------------------

Okay, here are my questions.

1. My wife and I cannot afford to pay the full $2469.70 from Letter #1 in one fell swoop. We could probably do it in 6 payments of about $400/month. Do I call them and make this offer?

2. Could I call and make an offer to Letter #2 collection agency as well?

3. Should I even call either of these two firms in the first place? A friend told me (probably incorrectly) that if I call, I’m legally admitting fault and somehow on the hook for more money.

Any suggested courses of action would be most welcome here. Especially ones where I am told what to say to these people on the phone. I don’t negotiate well, and frankly, am very intimidated by this. We want to do the right thing, but I’m scared of goofing it up and making more of a mess than we’re already in.

- Maxed
maxedcredit@gmail.com

The card's out there, and it's play or get played?

Fuzzy Dunlop — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 16:09:36 -0800

Amazon incorrectly charged a little-used credit card $79 and we stupidly missed it for a few months. What's the best way to deal with the credit card company and Amazon? (Apologies for the long story, but I wanted to make sure to include all the details.)

My wife and I are Americans, but live overseas and, as a result, see our American mail not all that often. A couple of months ago Amazon.com randomly charged my wife $79 for an Amazon Prime membership, despite the fact that she never enrolled in Amazon Prime and knew nothing about it. The charges went on a MasterCard that hasn't been used in years, and, since we don't see the bills frequently, we didn't know anything about the charges until months after the fact. When we did find out about this, the bill was months overdue, with late payment and finance charges added and reports sent to the credit ratings agencies.

So my wife called the credit card company (it's a Citizens Bank Mastercard, which I guess is run by RBS) to dispute the charges. The customer service people basically refused to do a chargeback, told her that she had no choice but to pay the bill on the spot (which she did, over the phone), and told her that if she wanted to do a chargeback she would have to call Amazon and collect some proof that she had not made the purchases herself.

Then she called Amazon, who agreed almost immediately that she had not enrolled in Amazon Prime. They also agreed to refund the cost of all charges incurred to the credit card, including all the late fees and finance charges, as long as she first paid the bill and sent documentation of the charges.

After that she called the card company back, told them what Amazon had said, told them that she was disputing the charges and, as a result, wasn't going to pay the bill (payment of which had been post-dated). The card company representative, a manager, after giving her a hard time about not paying the bill, told her they would cancel the charges and late fees, but could do nothing about the finance charges or knock to her credit rating.

We realize that we bear some responsibility for not looking at the bill enough, but the card company's response still sounds pretty weak to me. The one other time I had to do a chargeback (for a fraudulent purchase on my account) the card company (a different one) was incredibly helpful and reasonable. So I wonder if, in fact, we're getting played by the card company here.

So what's the best way to proceed? Should we suck it up, pay the bill, and hope for Amazon to pony up the refund for all the charges? Should we push the card company take care of it, and if so, how do we push them? Is there anything to be done about negative credit reports and should we really worry about them at all when the rest of our credit history is totally clean? On the one hand, this is a small amount of money, on the other hand, on principle, it seem to me that the card company could be treating us better.

We just want to sell flowers, not get in the middle of your marital dispute!

St. Alia of the Bunnies — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 07:07:03 -0800

Privacy issues in the floral industry, also known as "How to stay out of customer's divorce cases".... ...I need to keep this general, but the problem is this. Occasionally married people send flowers to people they are having affairs with. Naturally we in the flower business don't want to know/get involved with people's private issues-it really is none of our business no matter what our view on this is ethically.

However, occasionally these people slip up and/or their spouses get suspicious-maybe they see a charge on a joint account, or whatever-and the spouse calls us wanting to know what that charge on their bank statement is. This can and has put us in the middle of some problematic issues-and this is even assuming the caller has told us why they are checking-we don't always know someone is cheating, and I can see a scenario where in good faith a clerk might want to help a customer with what might look like an overbilling problem. Generally our default position has been that if a wife calls about a husband's order, we cannot tell her who he sent flowers to since she was not the one who placed the order.

Anyway, my question is this: How can a flower shop protect itself legally from getting in the middle of such disputes? Of course a customer's orders are private but we have no control over a spouse finding a financial statement of some sort, and we have been (wrongly as far as I know) accused of telling a spouse about an order when we did no such thing. It would also be helpful to know what the legalities are regarding a spouse inquiring about charges made on a joint account.

Again, for the purposes of this question, we are not passing judgement on the choice the person made to send flowers to someone that perhaps morally they should not. I do want to know what the legal issues are regarding these sorts of scenarios-and whether or not we could be sued if a divorce ensues. (Either for disclosing or for not disclosing.) We are in NC if that matters.

(And no, these are not hypothetical types of situations-these things do crop up periodically.)

Credit score and available credit

East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 08:45:09 -0800

Is my U.S. credit score based on the total available credit on all cards, or is it also based on the available credit on an individual card? I have a large number of credit cards without balances, and one credit card with a balance, on which I pay the introductory rate of 0%. Money in my checking account makes 4.25% interest. So my plan is to put a high balance on the interest-free credit card, leaving more money to accrue interest in my checking account. Then, when the introductory offer expires, I will get a new one (preferably fee-free), and pay off any balance that I can't transfer.

My question is, does my credit score change based on my percentage of available credit on the individual card (which would be very small), or only based on the percentage of total credit available on all the cards (which would be very large)?

So, do I have to worry about getting close to the credit limit on this individual card?

If anyone has related experience on this matter I'd be glad to hear it.

I need her family to stop abusing her and her credit cards.

lizzicide — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 18:09:40 -0800

Jane's mother is racking up enormous charges on credit cards in Jane's name, completely against Jane's consent. How can she stop this? Difficulty: No consequences for Jane's mother. I'll try to phrase this as well as I can. I'm writing this for a friend, who recently moved away from a very unhappy situation at home with her parents. Having come from a bad homelife myself, I feel for her and really want to help her heal and do the best that she can now that she's...well, free. However, her parents are taking advantage of her financially, and while they're not evil people, what they're doing to her is Very Wrong and there has to be a way to stop this.

My understanding is that the credit card fraud started a few years ago, as soon as Jane turned 18, and that her mother has charged thousands of dollars to cards in Jane's name that Jane never opened or even KNEW about. After fighting her on this for a very long time and using miles of emotional blackmail, Jane's mother finally agreed to stop charging to the cards, opening new cards, and so forth. Except she hasn't. In Jane's words, "All I know is that a credit card/checkbook was sent in my name, to my parents' home, and that she got a hold of it, and that she used it to get $450. This is illegal because if checks are involved, she forged my signature somehow." This sounds baaad to me, because checks mean cash advances, and cash advances mean high interest rates (higher than just credit card purchases) on balances that neither Jane nor her parents can afford to pay down.

Jane wants to stop this without credit card companies holding her mother responsible for committing fraud. "Protect the abuser" comes to mind, but at the same time, I understand that legal repercussions will be costly to the family. To give (even more) background, I'll say that her father suffered a heart attack this year, so he, her mother, and her mentally disabled older brother are living at home solely on the mother's income and some public assistance they're receiving.

My suggestions are:
- Close the existing credit accounts (my understanding is that she'll still be able to make payments towards the balances even after closing the accounts)
- Opt out of receiving credit card offers via optoutprescreen.com

My overall question is, how can she protect herself against a woman who knows all of the identifying pieces of information that a creditor would request, WITHOUT reporting fraudulent activity?

In Massachusetts, what are the steps to freeze her credit profile and prevent new lines of credits from being opened? What measures would be in place to keep Jane's mother from simply posing as Jane to lift the freeze? Will this end up biting Jane in the ass if she needs to get student loans in the fall?

Any advice on how to handle the situation would be very much appreciated.

If I knew then, what I know now...

nineRED — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 05:36:29 -0800

Writing a finance 'book' for my niece...What do you know now about money that you wish you knew at 17? What have you learned the hard way? My niece will be starting college next year and I wanted to buy her a finance book aimed at teenagers in an effort to help her learn about money, pitfalls/scams to avoid, and generally helpful hints about credit, saving, taxes, etc. However, I have instead decided to write a personalized ‘book’ for her filled with beneficial tips, stories, and examples gleaned from various sources.
What would YOU include in a book like this? What do you know now about money that you wish you knew at 17? What have you learned the hard way? Additional topics I should be covering, such as credit cards, car payments, income taxes, credit scores, insurance, online banking, scams, and saving, as well as helpful anecdotes or tips (“Don’t sign up for a credit card on campus just to get the free frisbee…”) are welcome. Bonus points for college-specific stories.
No one taught me about money when I was growing up and I want to make sure that my niece has all the information she needs to make wise decisions.

Send us your credit card number by e-mail

devnull — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 23:59:47 -0800

Why is it that so many non-chain hotels take credit card numbers by e-mail ("you can split it over two e-mails for security"). Do the credit card companies not know this?

An Old Dog Resists The New Trick

Xurando — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 12:28:15 -0800

Should I continue to resist paying my credit card bill electronically? For many years I have had a simple effective process for paying my bills. I open the bill, write the check, and send it out. I could do online, but i spend too much time there anyway, and why fix something that isn't broke.

I got a new credit card. I knew it had a 20 day grace period. The second month I've had it, 10 day after the statement posts, I still haven't received the bill in the mail. I call customer service. I'm told that they don't get mailed until 3 days after the statement posts. Then she tells me they allow up to ten days to receive the bill and that it may take up to ten days to receive the check I send. I told her that's "impossible. there's no way to do this within the 20 day grace period." She says "that's right. You have to change and pay electronically."

I'm pissed about this. Why offer a mail service when it isn't possible. Why not tell people officially you have to pay online instead of offering something that doesn't exist.

I remember reading about some class action lawsuits a few years ago, revolving around banks delaying sending bills out in order to collect late fees. Have there been any recent suits in this area? I'll join the class in a heartbeat.

Again, I can change, but why should I, just to save money for the blood sucking credit card companies?

What is a reputable, low-cost, non-PayPal merchant account to accept credit cards online?

roxie110 — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 12:19:28 -0800

What are some reputable, low-cost, non-PayPal merchant accounts that enable you to accept credit cards online? Extra credit question: what are the best designed and lowest cost Web store options? I've been using PayPal for years to sell on Ebay, but want to open up a standalone web store and accept credit cards directly.

So my question is a two-parter:

1) Who out there has a good, reputable, low-cost merchant account to directly accept credit cards online? My business volume will probably be a couple thousand dollars a month to start, but hopefully as I move sales from Ebay to my Web store, it will be several times that. I'm tired of shoveling money into Ebay/Paypal's pockets, so I'm open to any suggestions. My biggest concern, besides cost, is protection against fraud. PayPal does have certain protections for the seller against unauthorized credit card payments, and I'm terrified of losing hundreds of dollars to bad apples if I go to a non-PayPal merchant account. Any insight on that?

2) Can anyone recommend a Web store that's easy to set up, allows for a certain level of customization, and has sophisticated inventory management? I've spent some time trying to set up a ProStore Business-Level account but refuse to open it because their inventory management is a joke if you have more than 10 or 20 items (I generally have 150-200). The entire interfaice is utterly slow and counterintuitive--though maybe I'd need to upgrade to Advanced to get more functionality. The upside is that it synchs inventory with your Ebay store, and it would be hard to let that go, as I'm constantly adding new items to the store. Any suggestions?

MANY THANKS for your help!!

Software for playing the "rotate that credit card balance to the low APR offer" game

GenTso — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 18:27:33 -0800

My googlefoo is failing me: Hasn't anyone written a program that helps you figure out the best strategy for playing the "rotate credit card balances from one card to the next to take advantage of low APR offers" game? (You know the offers - you get maybe 0% or 1.99% APR for 6 months, but a fee of 3% of the transfer amount, maxing out at $75, etc. Add to that the fact that I have a good number of cards, and suddenly the possibilities of what to move where/when can quickly become a tricky matter to manage.)

Just walk away?

Anonymous — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 20:19:54 -0800

What if I just stopped paying my credit cards? I have about 12k in credit card debt. I currently have a mortgage and a car. I'm not behind on anything. My payments are made in full, plus some, every month. At this rate, I break even every month, but I have little cash on hand and no savings other than a few retirement accounts that are rapidly devaluing. My credit score is 815. It's looking likely that my job is going to be eliminated and sent to a certain third world country within the year. If I were to find a job that paid me ~70% of my current pay, I could still make my mortgage payments and car payments and insurance but there's no way to pay the cards. So what if i just don't? Is there any negotiation I can do with the credit card companies? Right now everything has been transferred off to low or no interest cards. What are my other options with this debt?

Drowning in debt

Anonymous — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 21:02:46 -0800

How do I know if I should be considering bankruptcy? My spouse and I have somewhere around $15,000 in credit card debt, and we each have student loans. Between rent, bills (utilities and such), card payments, student loans, gas, groceries, etc. we are getting by paycheck to paycheck. Most bills are paid somewhat late, depending on when paydays fall, which means we end up with late fees, making it even harder to pay, and it's an endless cycle.

I don't want to sound like I just racked up a bunch of debt and want out of it (which isn't the case - due to being laid off, I lived off my cards for awhile, and we moved to a different state for economic/job reasons, using the cards again).

How do I know when to begin contemplating bankruptcy? I don't want to think about having shit credit for years to come if we do this, but on the other hand I'm sure we already have shit credit from all the debt and late payments.

I live in North Carolina if it's relevant. Throw away email drowningindebtnc@gmail.com

Is this Credit Card going to cost me?

wildatheart — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 07:17:12 -0800

Could somebody take a look at these terms & conditions of a credit card I am thinking of getting. I am only considering this card because it belongs to a particular Airline I will fly a lot with over the next year, and I will get their airmiles with each purchase. I always pay any balance on my credit cards in their entirety, as I refuse to pay the ridiculous interest. However, I am worried about item 5 on the above .pdf. Am I right in thinking that I will be paying interest, regardless, on the £ 1500.00 that is mentioned here? And if so, what would this cost me?

How should I pay for this?

Mavri — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 11:50:38 -0800

Should I pay for an unexpected expense using a credit card or by borrowing from my 403(b)? I don't have to worry about job security and I'll be able to pay back the debt in about a year if I'm frugal, two years if I'm not. Last time I had a large unexpected expense, I had no choice but credit cards, so I'm not sure what the pros and cons are here. Is it just a matter of which has the lower interest rate?

(And I know that basic financial advice says to have money set aside for just this situation, and I have clearly ignored said advice. I got really excited about saving for retirement instead.)

Is this my personal bailout for the credit industry?

Anonymous — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 08:24:53 -0800

Yesterday, I paid off Citibank for the last time. Today, I logged in to verify it had posted, and noticed my interest rate had jumped 5.5%. Has my new regime of frugality displeased the overlords? (Anon because I know some of you and am embarrassed about my money issues.) Last year when I got serious about my consumer debt, I used Citi's low-APR balance transfer offers to consolidate all my credit card debt. The total of transfers and existing Citi debt gave me a balance in the mid-$20K; the transfer APR was 2%, and the purchase/existing APR was 13.3%.

The balance transfer period is about to end, so I decided to clean the dogs out of my investment account and get out of debt in one easy payment. Yesterday was the last day of my statement period; I paid the current balance in full. When I logged in today, the current balance was only the interest charge on the previous period, so I paid it off too. Then I noticed that my APR had jumped to 18.8% overnight!

I've seen a number of stories about Citi jumping people's rates inexplicably since the current crisis started. I know that, by not using my credit, I am less useful to Citibank. Still, I wasn't expecting a hike back to where I was in my less creditworthy days. Are they betting that I will be unable to resist using my card again and that I didn't notice the boost? Is the hike coincidental to the zero balance, making my ragefest at Vikram Pandit meaningless?

Invest for the future vs. Debt reduction

Anonymous — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 18:32:35 -0800

Investing 201: Given the economic news of late, If the value of my mutual funds drop and the interest rate of my debts go up would it be prudent to liquidate the mutual funds to pay off my debts or should I "stay the course" despite this? Financial details inside... OK so I have about $15000 in Mutual Funds (Canadian RRSPs to be exact - these are like 401Ks, I think, where the money invested is for retirement and is not taxed until withdrawn).

I also have about $30,000 in debt that I am paying off.
Half of it is a line of credit at 9%; the other half is credit card debt at about 12%.

Until now, my strategy was to leave my investment money where it is, and allow it to grow despite the temptation to use it to pay off the debt.

Now, if the economy goes to hell, I am assuming that the credit card companies and banks will jack up the interest rates (is this a safe assumption?) and that the value of my investments will plummet (which is expected).

I'm not so concerned about the investments - I normally would have "stayed the course" considering that I am a far way off from retirement, however but I am concerned about the debt - if the interest rates rise, it might become difficult to pay these off in a timely fashion.

So here are my options:
1) Stay the course, watch the value of my funds drop (temporarily at least) and risk paying more interest on my debts and extend this already long and painful course of financial redemption (at the risk of my happiness, health and marriage).

2) Liquidate the mutual funds, pay the up-front tax, pay the income tax on the money I am cashing out, and reduce my debt by 1/3, for the sole purpose of having a smaller debt in the event that interest rates go up.

Given this assumption, do you think it would be a better idea to liquidate the mutual fund, pay the up-front taxes, pay the income tax.

I'm still thinking Door #1 (stay the course). But I am curious to know what the hive mind thinks!

Get rich quick, repent at leisure?

allen8219 — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 09:24:54 -0800

Is it possible to take out huge sums of money as cash advances and then flee the country? Don't worry, I have zero interest in actually doing this, but I was talking to a friend who claimed that one could apply for a bunch of credit cards at once, max them all out, and then skip out to Thailand or somewhere and live off the $150,000 or however much you got. Is this true? And if so, why aren't more people doing it? It seems like it would be illegal, except maybe if you declare bankruptcy? I know the bankruptcy laws got a lot stricter a few years ago, but if you just had the cash in a suitcase or something, it'd be pretty hard to repossess, right? And you could always claim you lost it gambling, or whatever.

Over on Fatwallet forums, people talk about doing an App-O-Rama, and routinely get six-figure lines of credit limit (combined, from getting lots and lots of credit cards in one day). Whenever I get a new credit card, which is rarely, the credit limit is well over $10k.

What am I missing here? Does Bank of America have a crack team of assassins to track down the cheapskates (thieves) that actually do this?

How can I get AmEx to stop sending me so much junk mail?

tumbleweedjack — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 18:44:24 -0800

3-5 times a week, every week, I receive promotional offers from American Express (with whom I am a current cardholder). How do I get them to stop? The mailings vary, mostly they're offers of new cards. I don't even open them anymore- I just tear them up and throw them away, because I have supposedly gone 'paper free' on my billing. It's really annoying and an enormous waste of paper.

Help me fix my credit score.

desjardins — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 06:03:08 -0800

Should I dispute the adverse item on my credit report or just pay it off? Also, will a balance transfer help or hurt me? Last July I moved and closed my account with my old cable company. I returned the equipment and paid the balance. I got a notice saying I owed them $69 but I figured my check had crossed in the mail. I called them and the rep said my account was at $0. So, I forgot about it and ignored the mail they sent me. The cable company itself never called me to get the money. A collection company started leaving messages for me about a month after closing my account, but they didn't say for whom they worked and I never called them back. This company is also notorious for calling the wrong person and as they never said my name, I assumed they must be calling the wrong number. Now the $69 is on my credit report and I'm pissed because 1) I was never told it was going to collections and 2) I don't really owe them the money (unfortunately I have no proof of returning the equipment). I don't have the energy for a drawn-out battle with them - I just want it off my credit report. Should I just pay them or won't it matter?

Another thing hurting me on my score is that I have two credit cards that are maxed out. The interest rates are absolutely obnoxious (28% and 29%). The third one has a really high credit limit and a low balance, and it could easily accommodate the balances of the other two. The balance transfer rate is 9% and the fees would amount to $200. The rate is only good until May 2009 and there's NO WAY I will have them paid off by then, but then the rate just jumps to the normal APR of the card (25%) which is still better than the other two. I have had this card forever and only paid late once. I am likely to be adding another $5000 to the card soon because of the wedding/honeymoon (I'd still have room for the other two balances.) Should I do the balance transfer?

Why bother trying to sign electronic signature pads?

J-Garr — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 11:10:16 -0800

Electronic signature capture devices are not designed to allow someone to accurately sign them. So why not switch from using my signature to an easy to draw secret symbol? Many stores now have electronic signature capture devices on their Point of Sale devices. I find it silly to try and use my actual signature on these devices because normally they're at a funny angle, there is no where to rest your hand, the stylus pen does not accurately track, etc. Over the last few years as I see more and more of these my signature has transformed from something slightly resembling my actual chicken-scratch of a signature to some random squiggly lines.

In the spirit of the ZUG credit card prank, why shouldn't I start drawing a little symbol instead of signing my name? I'd always draw the same thing. It'd be something I could accurately and easily replicate on the silly little pads. If someone actually did steal my credit/debit card and tried to forge my signature it'd be easy to show that I always draw a hash mark with a circle around it (or whatever) while the thief actually tried to sign my name.

To do such a thing would I need file a copy of "my official 'signature'" with my bank? This is all in theory of course. Though what possible issues might arise from using my squiggly line signature on electronic pads instead of making an attempt to actually sign my name as it looks (or at least at one time looked) on my card. Not that anyone could tell because the sig on my card is smeared and unreadable.

Not money-laundering, I swear!

danblaker — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 11:45:44 -0800

Seeking e-commerce partner that supports funds disbursements (and Ruby on Rails). I'm building a (Rails-based) website for intramural sports teams, and I want to offer teams the ability to collect credit card payments from members for things like jerseys and parties. Essentially, each team would have its own merchant account; but all transactions for all teams would go through our website front-end. Another option would be to have a single merchant account for our organization, then we'd disburse funds to each team on a regular basis; but this option seems messier and more suspicious.

We'd like to use Shopify's well-tested ActiveMerchant library for RoR, and it has a long list of supported payment gateways. So far, I've spoken to authorize.net and they said they couldn't support the disbursement side; so before going down the list and calling each of the gateways, I thought I'd check here! Any suggestions?

Accepting Credit Cards On The Go

Pinwiz — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 17:49:19 -0800

I need a solution to accept credit cards on the go. I'm starting a side-business as a computer geek, and because of the size of projects that I hope to get it would be useful to accept credit cards. I know that there's e-shop options like PayPal's virtual terminal, but I'd like to find something that I can access via my cell phone (Blackberry 8320) to accept credit cards at a job site.

Any recommendations/alternatives that I should consider?