Cahoot webcard

ralliesport

Hi

Ive been using the cahoot webcard for a while purchasing items over the internet without much problem. However I purchased a subscription to a website (nothing smutty but I dont want to reveal their name because it isn their fault). I gave the webcard number with a low credit limit, enought for one months subscription. Cahoot has paid the last 3 months subscription meaning the card number is over its limit and the card number should have expired.

This is the email they sent me:

After investigation the original transaction that you made to the company with the webcard, I can see that this was for a subscription. As a result funds have been debited from your cahoot account on a monthly basis.

Even though you had set a limit on the webcard, as long as the payment amount is below what is known as the 'floor limit' of the retailers, they are able to debit funds using the card number without the need to request authorisation from the bank. Therefore not providing cahoot the opportunity to decline the transaction. This, unfortunately, is within the Visa Regulations.

The only way to stop future payments from being made you will need to approach the retailers and request cancellation of the subscription that you originally signed up for.

Obviously this may be true and it is my fault, I should have remembered to cancel my subscription.

However I dont see in the point in the webcard if they are going to pay the subscription even if it is over a credit limit you have set and over its expiry date.

charlie12

Hmm, that's rather worrying. I thought the whole point of the Webcard is that you can set manual limits on "temporary" cards. If they allow certain transactions over the limit, that totally ruins the point of it, especially if the card is also expired! They are just like normal (cancelled) credit cards then.

I was considering getting one of these but I don't think I'll bother now.

innovate

This is indeed worrying, and I'd challenge Cahoot over this if I were you. I can't see anything in the Cahoot webcard T&Cs that cover subscriptions - by definition, one wouldn't think a webcard can be used for subscriptions because it's a one-off amount that is authorised by the cardholder.

A webcard expires within a month - - so how can Cahoot go on paying month after month from an expired card?

grumbler

I think the key words here are subscription and investigation.

Subscribtion = 'Continuous Payment Authority’. You cannot cancel it by cancelling the card; when card expires CPA does not die: Regular Payments off a Credit Card Discussion.
At least Cahoot investigated the transaction before debiting your account. With usual card there would be no any investigation unless you disput the transaction with credit card company.

I think Cahoot webcard will work fine for all transactions besides 'Continuous Payment Authority’.