Loans again !

[pipme]

Just received 'personal loan offer' from the WW2 bomber namesake
Interest rate 6.5% APR .... I calced it to be 6.549 ... % APR.. Ok so we expect them to use rounding in their favour but that is pushing the envelope. ( not much on one loan but a tidy sum on thousands)

Nothing to pay until 3rd month ... In my book this is a con !! What it doesn't say, and unless one can, then does the calculations one would probably not realise, that they charge interest for the 'payment free' period (Almost fair do's here ... they take care with words payments not charges).... from the start of the 3rd month the loan is for the amount borrowed PLUS compound interest accrued for the first two months ... Ah well, as we all know there is no such thing as a free lunch or do we!!

P

 

[2scoops0406]

Banks Eh! Don't you just luv 'em.

 

[pipme]

EdwardM of the bank !!! Now it all becomes clearer

How is the head ?

 

[2scoops0406]

The bigger the profit, the bigger my bonus !! Laughs manically....... Head's ok now. Just off to have another slanging match with my line manager (he's a complete t0sser)

 

[pipme]

Edward do you have any idea what the story is on the 'computer generated possible fraud warning' which Loids (probably others too) use, if a Mastercard transaction does not follow the normal profile for that card / user ? Seems a good idea to me, how quickly do such safeguards kick in ?

P

 

[AdamW]

From my experience, immediately.

My dad went on business to Johannesburg. First evening he tried to use his credit card in a restaurant and the automated security (I think it is a Mastercard) decided that this was unusual behaviour, and cancelled the card immediately. Luckily he had some Rands at hand, would have been very embarassing otherwise.

Then, a couple of weeks later I rang up to pay my credit card bill. Asked them to read it out, I thought it was in the region of £1000 (I had been on holiday). They read out some figure on the wrong side of £7000! I got them to read out the last two transactions, these were both in the same bar in Johannesburg, for £2500 and £3500 (roughly). How THAT didn't get automatically cancelled I don't know. I mean seriously, why would anyone be spending £3500 in a bar in ONE transaction? Unless it had been some massive party with free drinks? Wish I had been there!

Of course, the joy of CCs is that you just fill in a form saying "wasn't me" and they post it off to their Johannesburg office and hopefully have the police apprehend the bu**er who did it. I mean, £6000. That is a shedload of money to spend in a bar over here, the kind of thing that would make the front page of the Sun if you did it then stole a policeman's helmet.

However in SA people earn less. According to a website I just looked at, the average HOUSEHOLD (not personal) income for a South African is £2000 if you are black, £12000 if you are white (could you imagine them collecting such stats in the UK? ). So assuming the average UK salary of £27K (if I recall, from another post), that is equivalent to between £14K and £81K. Which makes it even more incredible! £81K? That is spending of Elton John-with-flowers proportions.

 

[2scoops0406]

Well, as you can imagine, it's not run by people but by computers. AdamW surprised that the card was cancelled, that doesn't sound right

 

[2scoops0406]

Edward do you have any idea what the story is on the 'computer generated possible fraud warning' which Loids (probably others too) use, if a Mastercard transaction does not follow the normal profile for that card / user ? Seems a good idea to me, how quickly do such safeguards kick in ?

P

It's run by an external company which all the banks subscribe to. Exer1@n

 

[2scoops0406]

To answer the question properly, what happens is if an unsual transaction is attempted, one which does not conform to your usual spending patterns, this could be a number of things. When this happens, the vendor should ask for additional identification, if not forthcoming, then it is at the vendors discretion to either accept or decline the transaction.

 

[pipme]

I just wonder how many people actually have a second (or more) identity ?

In A's case ... nips over Africa as A.N.Other has a belter of a w/e spends on Mr W's card ... Nips back to blighty ... picks up Other's SS cheque from the Landlord of Other's home address flat (which he never uses) ... .. Nips home as A to enquire about his CC account.
Bish bash bosh home and dry !! or is he ?

No one can tell me -- when you have a suitably complex foreign name and are disposed toward survival by any means through conditioning in a country of hard living .... That you would not be tempted when in the land of plenty ? I bet they 'jump through' the administrators of social security from the balmy suburbs ... just keep the old PC business boiling !!

P

 

[jasy]

i thought you had to call up the cc company on receipt of the card and confirm some security details you gave on application to get the card activated. This was to stop people nicking them from the post and using them.

 

[pipme]

i thought you had to call up the cc company on receipt of the card and confirm some security details you gave on application to get the card activated. This was to stop people nicking them from the post and using them.

We are talking about being informed if there is a largish transaction which does not fit the normal card usage profile ... suggesting the card may be in use by other than the registered card holder by whatever means.

 

[jasy]

it was 9.19am , saturday morning, hangover.you know the score

 

[pipme]

Affording to drink on an armed forces pension ... D'yu hear that Tone !!

 

[jasy]

SCANDAL