Halifax - £3 minimum fee for gambling transactions

GingerBob_3

Just noticed the updated T&Cs for Halifax and BoS credit cards. They now include a minimum £3 fee for each gambling transaction. Perhaps PayPal is now the answer, unless they do something similar; I haven't heard they do.


I guess this is a sign of the way things are going - credit card companies getting into social engineering. They'll be putting an excess charge of fag-buying transactions next (not joking - I wouldn't put it past them).

HappyMJ

Gambling transactions are considered cash.

I can load money into a gambling site from a credit card then bet on both red and black (a little on green just in case) obviously I will win and then withdraw that money instantly into Paypal then transfer that to my current account. Therefore it becomes interest free money.

Blackjack pays 99.5% RTP so that would make the cost of money borrowed very low.

spadoosh

Its classed as a cash advance.

Dont think its much to do with morals.

Im guessing its to stop people betting on certainties to be able to have access to cash easily and trying to circumvent the cash advanced charges.

I suppose thats a risky way of doing things but choosing to gamble using a credit card isnt exactly risk averse.


ETA this isnt just halifax and bos, the majority of major credit card companies do this.

GingerBob_3

I think the £3 minimum might be a new idea. I thought previously it was a straight %age, which normally amounted to pence rather than £s.


I don't buy this idea of gambling transactions being cash advances (from the point of view of the CC company). Presumably the gambling merchant is paying a 2% fee or whatever for each transaction. The CC company are not furnishing you with cash out of their own (i.e. their lenders') coffers.

spadoosh

I really really dont buy that its the banks trying to take a moral high ground.

More likely they just want to extrapolate as much money as possible. You can either choose to pay the charge or not.

bris

HappyMJ wrote: »

Gambling transactions are considered cash.

I can load money into a gambling site from a credit card then bet on both red and black (a little on green just in case) obviously I will win and then withdraw that money instantly into Paypal then transfer that to my current account. Therefore it becomes interest free money.

Blackjack pays 99.5% RTP so that would make the cost of money borrowed very low.

No you cant, when you withdraw they only allow it back to the source it came from. So if you load £100 from a CC they will make you withdraw the first £100 back to the same CC before giving you free access to the balance.

chattychappy

GingerBob wrote: »

I don't buy this idea of gambling transactions being cash advances (from the point of view of the CC company). Presumably the gambling merchant is paying a 2% fee or whatever for each transaction. The CC company are not furnishing you with cash out of their own (i.e. their lenders') coffers.

I agree.

I'm guessing it's something to do with risk assessment. With gambling, a higher proportion of debts will go bad so they want a way of charging consumers more for credit when it's used this way. Treating them as cash advances is one way to do this.

It also takes them out of the introductory purchase offers... I can imagine CCs coming in for a lot of stick if people could have 12 months interest free on gambling transactions (or whatever).

grumbler

Gambling differs a lot from other businesses.
Gambling companies process a big flow of withdrawals, about the same as the flow of deposits, and work on tiny margins.
I guess they can't afford paying the same deposit and withdrawals fees as other companies, and negotiate much smaller fees or are given special status by default.
Also, pretty often it's possible to deposit from a CC and withdraw cash or by other means, that, indeed, makes a CC deposit very similar to a cash advance. That's why 'gambling' is so popular among money launders.

HappyMJ

bris wrote: »

No you cant, when you withdraw they only allow it back to the source it came from. So if you load £100 from a CC they will make you withdraw the first £100 back to the same CC before giving you free access to the balance.

Depends on the bookmaker.

The ones I use allow deposits using a credit card and as long as I've turned the deposit over I can withdraw to Paypal.