Visa Card changes. Be aware!

Be_Happy

Just had my RBS Visa statement with enclosed 'Notice of Variation'. Pages of small print with some important changes. Two which you should watch out for as they may be common to all Visa cards:

1 Among all the usual forms of cash transfer which count as 'advances' they are adding the purchase of gift vouchers/cards and any forms of electronic money storage (I'm not sure if this will include topping up PAYG mobiles). These will have 2.5% (max £2.50) added to them.

2 Purchases made from overseas retailers whether in person, by internet or by phone which are converted into sterling by the retailer will have 1.25% added in addition to any conversion charge the seller may make. (We've usually been asked whether we want to pay in £ or foreign currency when travelling on ferries, etc. will have to watch out now.)

As I get a good rate of cashback (and pay off immediately) I use my card at every chance, so I won't be changing it, but I will have to be careful when buying my usual gifts in the form of vouchers or cards.

LittleVoice

Regarding point 1 - If I buy a gift voucher from Tescos, WHSmith or anywhere similar, how would Visa know I had bought such things? Don't they just see the total spent not what was purchased? (Or has BB really arrived? Do they tell the powers that be in case we are money laundering?)

Alfie_E

LittleVoice wrote: »

…how would Visa know I had bought such things?

They won’t know exactly. The way a card issuer normally knows if a transaction was a cash advance is because the merchant has to describe each transaction – did the card holder get goods, or were they handed cash or something equivalent to cash? If the transaction is for goods, it’s the merchant that has to pay Visa for the transaction. If the transaction is for cash, it’s the card issuer who has to pay Visa. They, in turn, pass that charge on to the card holder. It could be that the Visa rules have changed to require merchants to describe things differently.

I don’t see that card issuers could use the same method used where some of them changed they way they treat gambling transaction. In that case, rather than go by what the merchant puts into the system, they have decided that they will classify them as they see fit. If the card issuer considers that a merchant account is taking some gambling transaction, the card issuer will treat all transaction involving that merchant account as gambling transactions.