Credit Card Obnoxiousness

[Mercutio]

I have a weird thing happening to me:

Since December, I've tried to make a number of purchases online with the debit card for my personal bank account.

Shirts and undies from Sears.com.
Renewing online pr0n memberships (renew as in, "they took my info in the past and all was well").
The odd computer bit for personal use
Some downloadable software.

... only to have my card rejected with the specific error: "Billing Address incorrect."

All the while, the card has continued to work fine elsewhere: Amazon, Newegg and several dozen small online book/music stores, computer businesses, brokerage...

So every time this happened, I'd hit my bank's web site and set my billing address to my house in Hobart, Indiana.

My card expired the 1st of February. I got a new one. *NOW* I can understand if things get rejected.

But the same error keeps coming up. Amazon, Newegg and the like take the card info changes in stride and without a peep.

I got credit reports on myself last week. ID theft? Nope. My credit reports show I've lived in the places I've lived, and that I haven't done anything weird (no applications for new accounts elsewhere or weird address changes).

So I call my Bank (Bankone, if anyone cares). Spend 20 minutes talking to a "telephone banker" (think: Level 1 support). She verifies my information in every database she can: Master account records, recent transaction records and credit processing records. Everything is good, everything is the same, everything is correct.

So... I talk to a Specialist (think: Level 2 support). HE starts digging into transaction and processing records, while verifying their records against my own paper and email records of accepted and declined charges.
... and, it turns out, NONE of the charges that are coming up as declined, are even getting to the bank's credit processing. They're being denied someplace else. This takes about 10 minutes to discover, and maybe another 25 minutes to verify.

Visa? My specialist offers to take it up with Visa.
Nope. Visa says they pass requests straight to my bank.

My level 2 guy was stumped. I'm stumped.

So... other than some monumental conspiracy, can anyone think of a reason why my card would work with some vendors/card processors and not with others?

 

[Pradeep]

I can only imagine it's something to do with the fact that it's a debit VISA card and not a true credit VISA?

I know Amazon has pretty lax address verification, but Newegg is strict.

Perhaps the solution is to get a true credit card, just for online stuff?

 

[blakerwry]

i've never had a problem with my visa debit. except for the 1st card I got had trouble reading in some readers.. replaced the card and all was well.

 

[jtr1962]

I'm grasping at straws here, but perhaps some of those places that rejected your card have your old address in their database, and because it didn't match your new address (as reported by your bank when verifying the card) they rejected the card. I had a similar problem where my ISP was automatically billing my credit card each month, but when my old card expired and I was sent a new one (exact same number) my ISP cancelled service for lack of payment. I had to reregister in order to fix everything.

 

[its.fubar]

Have you move your address is it the same as the billing address of your card, Because my son had this problem once when he moved.

 

[GIANT]

You need to call back and find out if there is some sort of "intermediary" involved in normal transaction processing (i.e. -- a third party). I'd be *really* surprised if there is. Other than that, I'd suspect they have issues with their transaction server.

PS: I would avoid (like the plague) using a debit card for online purchasing. A credit card is a lot smarter way to go. Ask anyone who has had their bank accounts drained through debit card fraud if they will ever use a debit card online again. The anti-fraud promises the banks flaunt aren't worth the hassle of suddenly having little or no money in your account -- not to mention even that you may or may not ever get all your money back. With a credit card, the onus is upon the bank, NOT YOU.

 

[Tea]

Good advice from the large motorized one.

 

[Mercutio]

Fortunately for me, I have money in several different bank accounts. Only one with a debit card though.

I'm in the habit of using my debit card for most of my small purchases. I strongly dislike using a credit card for a $20 purchase, because then I get trapped into thinking "Why am I writing a check for $20? I will wait a month, use the card some more, and write a check for $50."

... and then carry the 12.5% interest (or whatever it is) over for a month.

Also, at least one of my cards won't deal with the half-dozen credit processors that're most frequently used for *cough* "member supported web sites".

Anyway, the chain of events in credit processing supposedly goes like this:
SSL Store site - Credit Processor (Verisign, CCBill whatever) - Visa - Bank.

I don't really know what I'd have to do to pursue individual credit processors, and I'd assume that Sears' web site is probably using the same processor as the catalog company; something pretty reputable.

 

[.Nut]

Anyway, the chain of events in credit processing supposedly goes like this:
SSL Store site - Credit Processor (Verisign, CCBill whatever) - Visa - Bank.

Wasn't aware of the Credit Processor stage. I just thought it went from the brick'n'mortar merchant's cash register (or merchant's SSL-enabled website) straight to VISA / MC, and then onto the bank (Citibank, etc).

Well, at least you are only leaving small change in that debit-enabled bank account to mitigate risk. Even so, it could still turn out to be a nasty experience if it's ever plundered by a script kiddie.

By the way, what's the name of the company (or LLP/LLC) you are apart of these days? I was thnking a good name for one would be Indiana Not India, Inc. :wink:

 

[Mercutio]

If you look at the card swipe device at your local B&M, you'll see that it probably says Verisign on it. Store owners rent the device from Verisign for a set fee and pay a pretty steep transaction fee for each swipe ($1.25 per transaction for Credit, $.25 for Debit).

 

[Mercutio]

Whoops. I meant Verifone, not Verisign.
Although they're probably the same company.

 

[Pradeep]

Fortunately for me, I have money in several different bank accounts. Only one with a debit card though.

I'm in the habit of using my debit card for most of my small purchases. I strongly dislike using a credit card for a $20 purchase, because then I get trapped into thinking "Why am I writing a check for $20? I will wait a month, use the card some more, and write a check for $50."

Can't you pay your CC bills online?

 

[Mercutio]

Some yes, some no. Some of my cards are held through local banks rather than big national chains. They've been a little slow on the uptake with the whole "internet" fad.

 

[Fushigi]

"member supported web sites"

Other than my donations to SR & Doug's PC, I've still pretty much totally refrained for paying for any web content.

 

[Mercutio]

salon.com is absolutely worth the money.

But mostly I was thinking of the kind with dirty pictures.

 

[CityK]

They've been a little slow on the uptake with the whole "internet" fad.

I remember in '95 trying to talk my senior boss, in a research dept at a large financial institution, into getting the internet. He was skeptical and thought it was a fad...perhaps he's working in Indiana now?

 

[CityK]

...though, in fairness (and because he was actually a good guy), (a) there wasn't a whole lot of content back then (unless you count porn), and (b) being older, I can understand that he had natural suspicions of this new fangled mumbo jumbo technology.

 

[Fushigi]

salon.com is absolutely worth the money.

But mostly I was thinking of the kind with dirty pictures.

I don't doubt such sites exist. But I've no time for and little interest in expanding my surfing right now. I should be cutting back, really.

Oh, a bit about BankOne: At 16, I opened a checking account with Indiana National Bank. INB was later bought by NBD, which was bought by First Chicago, which was bought by BankOne. At some later point, I had moved to northwest Indiana and had accounts at Gainer Bank. Gainer was bought by NBD, which was bought by FC then B1. Since moving to Illinois, I've only banked with First Chicago, which after merging with NBD was bought by B1. So over 20 years of banking at several institutions and in the end I've only had one bank. And now that JPMChase is set to acquire B1, my 11 year possession of a Chase credit card will be yet another consolidation of the financial institutions I've had dealings with.

 

[its.fubar]

Well you seem to make things complicated over there here in Sweden all you need is one bank account and online account and you can pay all your bill`s that way now if you are a little worried about security you move money from your current account to your debit account besides the bank's here guarantee the money you have in your account from Internet fraud so what is the need for more one account may be to complicate things more than they need be this obviously is for people with private accounts and I do realize for companies there need`s are different but the question must be certainly this how different and does it need to be so complicated because we all remember those companies in the USA that are having so much trouble now I wonder if those guys running these companies had fewer accounts to play with they would not be going to prison now.

 

[Mercutio]

It turns out that a fairly large number of online credit processors have ceased to process debit cards, which they were doing before. After prodding and poking about this, the only solution, if I want to use my debit card for online purchases, is to call and make purchases by phone.

How utterly $%^$ing retarded!