Credit Cards

[DI]

Would it be a good idea for someone to develop a universal card( in agreement with all banks and CU's) that would link all one's CC's together?  Rather than carry multiple cards, the cardholder can carry their Universal Card and select which account at the time of purchase to charge.  The cardholder can go to a website and select which card(s) they want to add to their Universal Card.  This can  be voluntary rather than the banks making it mandatory. 

Message Edited by DI on 12-05-2009 01:27 PM

[marty56]

I dont think that would work very well in the retail environment and imagine if I could tie one of your cards to my universal card.  I wouldnt use it anyway.

[MattH]

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DI wrote:
Would it be a good idea for someone to develop a universal card( in agreement with all banks and CU's) that would link all one's CC's together?  Rather than carry multiple cards, the cardholder can carry their Universal Card and select which account at the time of purchase to charge.  The cardholder can go to a website and select which card(s) they want to add to their Universal Card.  This can  be voluntary rather than the banks making it mandatory. 

Message Edited by DI on 12-05-2009 01:27 PM

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And if that universal card gets lost, stolen, or otherwise used by a crook?  Recently my wife and I got a call from Chase Security telling us somebody had charged 500 bucks to our account at a liquor store in Florida which they suspected was fraud; we said they were right, it was fraud, so they of course cancelled that account number and sent us new cards.  During the week or so it took for the new cards to arrive we simply used other cards, but if we had one card for everything and that got compromised then we could have been seriously inconvenienced.

[Watchmann]

Every card is fighting for a position in your wallet,  it's like products at the grocery store which fight for the best product placement so they will be bought.  AMEX, Visa or MC would not allow a merged product that would blur the selection process, too much is at stake.  And I'd rather pick my card physically rather than having to tell the merchant which card I wanted it to go on.

Message Edited by Watchmann on 12-05-2009 05:48 PM

[laz98]

i prefer to have my own individual cards, however crappy they may be

[txjohn]

There is sort of such a thing:  Paypal

You can link any checking, savings, debit or credit card.  You can get a PayPal debit card that will draw upon one of your pay sources and have a backup.

You can select which pay source to use at the time of purchase if you do it online.

I know its not what you had in mind, but this is the closest I see it coming.

[Watchmann]

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txjohn wrote:

There is sort of such a thing:  Paypal

You can link any checking, savings, debit or credit card.  You can get a PayPal debit card that will draw upon one of your pay sources and have a backup.

You can select which pay source to use at the time of purchase if you do it online.

I know its not what you had in mind, but this is the closest I see it coming.

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Exactly right.  My default payment for PayPay is my checking account which I use for stuff less than about $50.  Higher levels I have a Visa account linked as a backup account, and for even higher purchases I've got my AMEX card linked which I use for items greater than about $3,000.  I just paid my AMEX account $5,300 for a purchase I made last month.  It all works great and I have a choice at checkout time.  Love PayPal for the flexibility it provides.