AOPA credit card --- WARNING.

I've wondered that too. We put everything we buy (even my daughter's
college tuition) on our Discover (and pay it off next month, of course)
and get the cashback discount. Keep a Visa and American Express for the
few places that don't take Discover (like Costco).

I always figured that Discover charges the merchant more than Visa...
but your posting suggests otherwise.

Rich

Jay Honeck wrote:

Here's another credit card mystery: Why the hell does ANYONE use any card
but Discover? Everyone else charges to use their cards, while Discover
actually PAYS you to use their card -- yet they are a distant third or
fourth in the industry.

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:Fuspd.85361$V41.50473@attbi_s52...

Here's another credit card mystery: Why the hell does ANYONE use any card
but Discover? Everyone else charges to use their cards, while Discover
actually PAYS you to use their card -- yet they are a distant third or
fourth in the industry.

Marketing is everything to American consumers, I guess...


VISA and Mastercard do not charge me for using their cards.

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:Fuspd.85361$V41.50473@attbi_s52...
One lesser known fact about credit card companies is that they will
screw
the VENDOR far more readily than they will their customers.

has American Express or Diners Club done the same to you?
(just curious)

We'll never know -- I threw BOTH of them out right after we opened, after
they tried to charge us 5% for each transaction. (The other cards --
Visa, Mastercard & Discover -- charge us "only" 4% for the privilege of
"working" with them.)

Here's another credit card mystery: Why the hell does ANYONE use any card
but Discover? Everyone else charges to use their cards, while Discover
actually PAYS you to use their card -- yet they are a distant third or
fourth in the industry.


Because there are cards that give more valuable rebates than Discover. I
have an REI card that pays 1% on every purchase starting from the first
dollar.

Mike
MU-2

In article Fuspd.85361$V41.50473@attbi_s52, Jay Honeck
wrote:

Here's another credit card mystery: Why the hell does ANYONE use any card
but Discover? Everyone else charges to use their cards, while Discover
actually PAYS you to use their card -- yet they are a distant third or
fourth in the industry.

If you pay your balance off each month, you wouldn't. But if you're
carrying a balance, that changes things considerably. My Disocver
"pays me back up to" 1%, while at the same time charging me 14.99% in
interest. If I put the same purchase on my MasterCard, I'm paying 6.9%
a.p.r.

Unless I pay the Discover off almost immediately, I come out far ahead
using my lower-interest MasterCard.

Someday, if I ever actually make some money in this business, I won't
need to worry about interest rates. That day's not here yet. :-)

--
Garner R. Miller
ATP/CFII/MEI
Clifton Park, NY =USA=

Jay Honeck wrote:

One lesser known fact about credit card companies is that they will screw
the VENDOR far more readily than they will their customers.

has American Express or Diners Club done the same to you?
(just curious)

We'll never know -- I threw BOTH of them out right after we opened, after
they tried to charge us 5% for each transaction. (The other cards -- Visa,
Mastercard & Discover -- charge us "only" 4% for the privilege of "working"
with them.)

Here's another credit card mystery: Why the hell does ANYONE use any card
but Discover? Everyone else charges to use their cards, while Discover
actually PAYS you to use their card -- yet they are a distant third or
fourth in the industry.

Marketing is everything to American consumers, I guess..

You might want to shop around for a better merchant bank deal--4% seems awfully
high for a hotel and signed receipts. You may be able to get a little less than
3% for Visa and Mastercard although your negotiating power will be limited by
your volume. Discover Card has historically charged lower merchant rates than
the big 2--they had to do that to gain merchant market share, just as they paid
cash back to gain consumer market share. American Express has always charged
higher merchant fees/rates, because they could.

Today there are numerous cards that pay more cashback than Discover. Discover
only pays 1% after you charge so many thousands per year (before that you get a
lower percentage cash back). Chase, Citi, BaA, and some others have a few cards
that pay a straight 1%. Discover used to let you "double" your rebate with a
bunch of merchant partners, but the doubling merchants have dwindled to a
trickle in the last year.

MBNA appears to eat part of their 5% AOPA rebate, so a lot of people must pay
them interest on these cards to make it worthwhile. Thanks, guys.

Jay Honeck wrote:

Kinda timely since PBS's Frontline had a show on credit cards last
Tuesday.
Very eye opening, it seems that a couple of Supreme Court decisions allow
credit card companies to charge whatever interest rate they want and to
raise the interest rate on money already on the balance.
Most of the credit card holders interviewed had never read or didn't
understand the "fine print" in their card contracts.


One lesser known fact about credit card companies is that they will screw
the VENDOR far more readily than they will their customers.

Over the past couple of years we have had a handful of guests with
guaranteed reservations not show up at the inn, who were charged for one
night's stay. Two of them simply called their credit card companies and
disputed the charge -- at which point the credit card company immediately
credited them and charged us back, no questions asked!

It was then up to US to "prove" to VISA that the guest had stayed with us --
which, of course, they had not. Despite the fact that these guests
insisted on "guaranteed reservations", despite the fact that we had
pre-authorized their stay on their credit card, despite the fact that we had
mailed post cards to their home, reminding them of their reservation -- and
despite the fact that we followed VISA's own procedures for no-shows to the
letter -- we were totally helpless, and had to eat the bill. No amount of
documentation or phone calls mattered to VISA.

THAT is the real credit card scandal that is sweeping America right now --
but no one outside of the industry knows (or, quite frankly) cares about it.
But we ALL pay for scumbags like these in the end.

I assume you keep a list of such "customers." Seems like a business
opportunity here to start a database of folks who do this routinely and
then sell the list to other vendors! :-)


Matt

In a previous article, said:
Jay Honeck wrote:
THAT is the real credit card scandal that is sweeping America right now --
but no one outside of the industry knows (or, quite frankly) cares about it.
But we ALL pay for scumbags like these in the end.

I assume you keep a list of such "customers." Seems like a business
opportunity here to start a database of folks who do this routinely and
then sell the list to other vendors! :-)

In this country you'd probably get sued for libel if you maintained such a
list.


--
Paul Tomblin http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/
Diplomacy is the ability to let someone else have your way.

Paul Tomblin wrote:
In a previous article, said:

Jay Honeck wrote:

THAT is the real credit card scandal that is sweeping America right now --
but no one outside of the industry knows (or, quite frankly) cares about it.
But we ALL pay for scumbags like these in the end.

I assume you keep a list of such "customers." Seems like a business
opportunity here to start a database of folks who do this routinely and
then sell the list to other vendors! :-)


In this country you'd probably get sued for libel if you maintained such a
list.



Well, as a lawyer once told me, the truth is always a defense against a
libel or slander charge. You would only be liable for libel if you put
someone on the list without due cause.


Matt

Did you tell them that if they didn't show they would be responsible for
one night's payment.

Just curious. You don't make that clear here.

mike regish

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:Nlspd.150701$R05.147436@attbi_s53...

It was then up to US to "prove" to VISA that the guest had stayed with
us -- which, of course, they had not. Despite the fact that these
guests insisted on "guaranteed reservations", despite the fact that we had
pre-authorized their stay on their credit card, despite the fact that we
had mailed post cards to their home, reminding them of their
reservation -- and despite the fact that we followed VISA's own procedures
for no-shows to the letter -- we were totally helpless, and had to eat the
bill. No amount of documentation or phone calls mattered to VISA.

THAT is the real credit card scandal that is sweeping America right now --
but no one outside of the industry knows (or, quite frankly) cares about
it. But we ALL pay for scumbags like these in the end.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

In a previous article, "mike regish" said:
Did you tell them that if they didn't show they would be responsible for
one night's payment.

Mike, that's why they call it "guaranteeing" the reservation. You risk
having to pay for a night you wont be there in return for the guarantee
that they won't give the room away if you're a little bit late arriving.
I don't know of a hotel in North America that doesn't operate that way.


--
Paul Tomblin http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/
"Wonder what diamonds do to lusers though."
"When attached to the teeth of a blade turning at 7000rpm, a darn fine job."
-- Peter N. M. Hansteen and D. Joseph Creighton