Be Excellent To Each Other

Got my email reminder that my live runs out on Jan 10th and just go here to subscribe.

Yeah right, I do all my xbox stuff via codes, no chance they are getting hold of my credit card!

As an aside, Toad (random xbox'er and mate) had his account given back a week ago, after the same thing happened. All set for more BF3 action this weekend... till the wind took out his phone line

I would suggest everyone here removing their card details from their Live accounts asap.

They only have an old card of mine on there. I buy everything via prepaid cards.

My live runs out on xmas day. On that day, my card is getting pulled.

Just ordered a new debit card on the Lloyds TSB self-service page. Didn't even have to give a reason.

And my liiive is running ooout on Christmas Day...

Have you heard the davpaz xmas song?

Debit card?

Err, yeah?

Get a credit card dude, and use that for everything online. Much much more secure.

Buy some crackers you tight bastard.

I've got a credit card, but have zero balance on it and don't intend on using it. Credit cards and me don't have a great history.

Using one responsibly is the next step in my fiscal rebirth, however.

heh.

My problem's been that I've only ever had a couple of credit cards, and always paid the balance in full on time, and never incurred interest. Egg pulled my card along with 100000 others for that reason. Which I can understand, to be honest. They're not a charity.

I would like a very low limit card for xboxing. Like £100 low.

Ah. Understood.

However, if you can trust yourself, then a credit card is much better. If you have a problem it is the credit card company who have had their money stolen, not yours.

i.e. Toad just called his credit card company and got the points money refunded immediately, when he had his live account compromised and they bought points on it. The card company then chase microsoft.

I think CC companies have to reduce your limit if you ask them to.

Are there any cc companies that let you set up a DD for the full balance? Obviously they don't want you to do that, but still it'd be nice.

I ran up credit card bills like everyone else when I was young and foolish, and I first got my hands on them.

These days I have 3 different ones, but everyone of them is set to pay off the balance in full every month. I don't use them as credit cards as such, just as a payment method that has extra protection.

Egg let you do that. Maybe not now after Kissyfur's experience, though.

Errr... all of them do, in my experience!

There used to be. Do they not do that any more then? e.g. HSBC credit card did.

Barclaycard and Natwest Mastercard do.

Not in my experience. They'll let you do the minimum repayment or a fixed amount.

Barclaycard also let you do minimum payment plus £x.

What happens if that results in a figure greater than the balance? I assume you don't end up with a credit on the card?

Weird. All the cards I have now, or have in the past let me set up to pay the full balance every month.

Lloyds
Egg
Tesco
Amex (but this is a charge card, so no option )
(some other one I can't remember)

oh cock, just realised if I don't have a card attached to my account I can't buy Windows Phone purchases.

I may have to go down the credit card route.

That's how my barclaycard is set up. I think it's fairly usual.

You get achievements.

I'm sure they never used to do it (for obvious reasons - they don't make any money out of you), but it's been quite some time since I checked.

They do make money from teh merchants when you use the card.

Yeah, you show them Myp!

All of them?

I've had a Tesco cc for 10 years now with a full balance cleardown each month. Two good things come of this.

1) The month time lag on cash leaving your account for expenses. It doesn't take that much hard work to factor in your CC balance as a deduction on your bank account. However it gives you breathing space when something shit happens to move money over to make sure you can cover it (rather than having to wait for that money to arrive before you can, for example, get your boiler fixed). Also, you have an effective perpetual month of free money.

2) I get about £200 a year in clubcard vouchers for doing nothing, and costing me nothing, before I even buy stuff at tesco.

I'll show them by getting the iPhone 5 next year.

1.5% per transaction, or 3% for Amex.

Your credit card is shit. Also, I think, potentially illegal.

I do the same. Free shopping!

*QI SIRENS*

Firstly, the legally required protection only applies for purchases between £100 and £3000, so in myp's case it would still have been at the discretion of the card vendor. And secondly, the same protection applies to any debit card with a Visa logo.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/w ... 082599.stm

I've overpaid (by about a fiver) a credit card bill before.

The money just sits there waiting to be 'used'. It doesn't earn any interest.

Awesome. I'll keep it the way it is, then.

OK, maybe not illegal. I was sure that in the most recent legal chanegs they said that full payment must be an option. I've never not seen it be an automatic option though.

Well yes, but the fundamental difference is that with a debit card, your money has gone out of your bank account and you have to fight to get it back. With a credit card you still have your money in your account and the card company has to fight to get their money back.

Personal security in the whole, rather than just legal security.

Wouldn't it be unlawful as opposed to illegal?

I have several. As I said earlier though, I've not checked for several years. And I did go and check one of them, and it did indeed let me set up a full balance DD. So, er - as you were.

Yes, I was just thinking about this. If it had been £900 instead of £90 I'd have been royally screwed.

Actually, more likely non compliant with the terms required for new cardholders, if indeed that were the case. Which it doesn't appear to be.

I'm worried about the potential of badness happening with my account, so have just ordered an Orange pre-paid Mastercard jobbie, which I shall be chucking onto my Xbox account when it arrives, and removing my Debit Card at the same time.

That's another excellent idea.

Also, and this might be going overboard, but seeing most of this stuff seemed to stem from having an EA account, I'm holding off from playing Fifa for the moment. Probably won't make much difference in reality, but it feels 'safer' in my mind at least.

I think not playing it won't make a difference. If you've played online and signed up for an EA/Origin account, it's too late. Change your XBL password though.