SEVERAL GREAT DEALS FROM CHASING THE POINTS: Chasing The Points has posted some outstanding deals lately. How about $60 in free groceries when you buy $500 in gift cards at A&P?
The deal is also in effect at Pathmark and expires on December 12. If you don’t have an A&P orPathark near you, here’s an easy way to churn West Elm gift cards for a profit. And of course there’s the Neiman Marcus churn, not to mention a clever way to save 20% at Starbucks.
CREDIT CARD ISSUERS REFUSING GAMBLING TRANSACTIONS: Online casinos may or may not be The Next Big Thing, but credit card issuers are not making it easy on them. From Bloomberg:
Just as legal online gambling gets started in the U.S., banks and payment processors are refusing to play.
Credit-card issuers Bank of America Corp., Wells Fargo & Co. and American Express Co., along with EBay Inc.’s PayPal, aren’t allowing the transactions, according to the companies. Delaware and Nevada permit Internet wagering, with New Jersey poised to become the third and biggest state on Nov. 26.
The rejections threaten a nascent business with the potential to reach $7.4 billion in annual revenue in four years, the estimate of researcher H2 Gambling Capital. Some Visa and MasterCard issuers have concerns over potential liability for underage wagering or other violations, according to the American Bankers Association. American Express and PayPal say they don’t process gambling transactions of any kind.
I’m not a big fan of gambling–sure things are much more appealing–but part of me is hoping for some sweet sign-up bonuses from online casinos.
RANDOM CREDIT CARD NUMBER FOLLOW-UP: TBB linked to my link about the random credit card number generator for use where you don’t want to give out your credit card number. A couple of his commenters raised valid-sounding issues with doing this. Scott wrote:
As person who works in law enforcement using that site to generate random and valid card numbers is a horrible idea. I don’t care if you are just using it to get free trials. What happens to the mope who forgets to cancel his free trial and a card gets billed? Think it won’t work? They can and do. I know for a fact some tweakers here in Oregon were punching in random credit card numbers online and when they found a number that worked they went hog wild. That website is no different. Scarier in fact. I’m sure michigan has similar laws but in Oregon to be charged with Identity Theft all one has to do is use the personal identification of another (includes credit card numbers) with the intent to deceive and you are guilty of a felony. Stay away from that site.
Though commenter Grant wrote:
At first, it seems illegal. But if you read how they create the number (it is a long mathematical formula) that replicates how banks generate credit card numbers. The site does not provide expiration dates or CVV values, so no charges will ever go through. This will not work for websites that have a “free” trial but still do a $1 temporary charge to the card.
Scott replied:
The harm is that it is likely illegal or at least close enough to the line that you don’t want to go there. Here is how ID theft is defined in Michigan. Oregon has a similar definition. This is something that should just be avoided. It is a Bad bad idea.
I am no lawyer, so I certainly can’t say whether or not this is a good idea. Please use your own judgment.
REAL ESTATE: For sale: a hand-carved cave complex on 200 acres in northern New Mexico. It can be yours for the low, low price of $995,000. Or you could just buy that broom closet in Manhattan. Either way.
I am not a lawyer, but I just got off a call that had 10 lawyers on the line and I probably spend 25% of each and every day on similar calls so I know enough to be dangerous. And I can’t think of anything more stupid and dangerous right now than using fake generated credit card numbers. There is zero doubt this could lead to a felony fraud charge which could destroy your ability to work pretty much anywhere in the future. Holy crap some people really have stupid freaking ideas. If you really need a credit card to do sign ups use a gift card with a $1 balance or generate a new legit temporary card number through programs like the Citi one. I really like your blog and you seem a pretty smart guy and sometimes I think George is too but how on earth he can call this “useful” and still claim to have an iota of intelligence, especially for a guy working in financial services, is just beyond me. George maybe you can explain to your clients why they should trust you with their money when you got charged for using fraudulently obtained credit card numbers??
Thanks MA… part of this blog is just me throwing out ideas for consideration, and I value feedback like this. There seems to be pretty good reason to believe that this is a bad idea, so I’ll make a note in the original post.
Ha and reading it back I hear my own epic rant. It wasn’t meant to sound as harsh as it did. I have a habit of doing that. Anyway still a stupid idea, but certainly fun to discuss. I think part of why I like this game is it’s similar mentality to trading. You have to look at everything in terms of what is your upside and what is your downside. Even if the downside is remote, you still have to consider it. Deals like this have horrible if remote downside. And the upside is you might get Club Accor Platinum for the hotel stay you will never ever make. Go figure LOL
No worries about the harshness, my feelings are not at risk of being hurt. Epic rants are more fun to read anyway. And I’m still at the stage with this blog where I’m just happy to see a few comments.
I’m not a gynecologist, but I’ll take a look… some good points there MA. And we are now moving to New Mexico it seems, as property taxes are more affordable there.
I was floored when you told me about property taxes in Westchester County. Just, wow.
I have no idea frankly why anyone lives in or near NYC. When you combine property, state, income and city tax you are all living just below the poverty line. The cost of me commuting from RDU to NYC each year is less than what I would pay additionally just in NYC city taxes, never mind all the rest (actually I end up paying 100% NY State tax, but that is not that different to NC) I hear good things about New Mexico. According to TV shows I watched, it’s a good place to grow a productive Crystal Meth business.
It’s only a matter of time until Matt gives up and moves to NC along with the hordes of other ex-New Yorkers…