topic Re: FTF/Cash Advance Fee in Credit Cards

FTF/Cash Advance Fee

JediNeo — Fri, 13 Jun 2014 20:26:59 GMT

Greetings all. I've been wanting to order something from an overseas retailer. Their payment options are Visa, MC, money gram and western union. Unsure if I want to pay directly with a CC. I was told if I use money gram/western union I'd be charged with a FTF and if used a card it would be considered a cash advance. Anyone have experience with this? Any help is appreciated.

Re: FTF/Cash Advance Fee

Anonymous — Fri, 13 Jun 2014 20:46:28 GMT

I have used MC debit with a low balance for this type of situation.

If you do Moneygram / Western Union, using debit / prepaid should avoid the cash advance issue.

Re: FTF/Cash Advance Fee

JediNeo — Fri, 13 Jun 2014 21:00:03 GMT

Thanks for the info. Was planning on using my 0% promo to carry the balance a little. Oh well, looks like I'll just pay in full with a debit.

Re: FTF/Cash Advance Fee

Creditaddict — Fri, 13 Jun 2014 21:06:48 GMT

@JediNeo wrote:
Greetings all. I've been wanting to order something from an overseas retailer. Their payment options are Visa, MC, money gram and western union. Unsure if I want to pay directly with a CC. I was told if I use money gram/western union I'd be charged with a FTF and if used a card it would be considered a cash advance. Anyone have experience with this? Any help is appreciated.

why would the visa/mc be considered a cash advance for the retailer?

Re: FTF/Cash Advance Fee

JediNeo — Fri, 13 Jun 2014 21:47:33 GMT

@Creditaddict wrote:
@JediNeo wrote:
Greetings all. I've been wanting to order something from an overseas retailer. Their payment options are Visa, MC, money gram and western union. Unsure if I want to pay directly with a CC. I was told if I use money gram/western union I'd be charged with a FTF and if used a card it would be considered a cash advance. Anyone have experience with this? Any help is appreciated.
why would the visa/mc be considered a cash advance for the retailer?

I was told the cash advance fee would apply if I used a CC card as payment thru money gram or western union. Although if I paid the retailer directly via Visa/MC I'd only be charged a FTF. Just hesitant to use my CC directly with a retailer I have no experience with.

Re: FTF/Cash Advance Fee

Anonymous — Fri, 13 Jun 2014 21:50:27 GMT

@JediNeo wrote:
@Creditaddict wrote:
@JediNeo wrote:
Greetings all. I've been wanting to order something from an overseas retailer. Their payment options are Visa, MC, money gram and western union. Unsure if I want to pay directly with a CC. I was told if I use money gram/western union I'd be charged with a FTF and if used a card it would be considered a cash advance. Anyone have experience with this? Any help is appreciated.
why would the visa/mc be considered a cash advance for the retailer?

I was told the cash advance fee would apply if I used a CC card as payment thru money gram or western union. Although if I paid the retailer directly via Visa/MC I'd only be charged a FTF. Just hesitant to use my CC directly with a retailer I have no experience with.

Cash equivalents like money orders and wiring funds and so on often incur a cash advance fee.

Re: FTF/Cash Advance Fee

Creditaddict — Fri, 13 Jun 2014 21:50:57 GMT

@JediNeo wrote:
@Creditaddict wrote:
@JediNeo wrote:
Greetings all. I've been wanting to order something from an overseas retailer. Their payment options are Visa, MC, money gram and western union. Unsure if I want to pay directly with a CC. I was told if I use money gram/western union I'd be charged with a FTF and if used a card it would be considered a cash advance. Anyone have experience with this? Any help is appreciated.
why would the visa/mc be considered a cash advance for the retailer?

I was told the cash advance fee would apply if I used a CC card as payment thru money gram or western union. Although if I paid the retailer directly via Visa/MC I'd only be charged a FTF. Just hesitant to use my CC directly with a retailer I have no experience with.

I MUCH rather use a credit card with the retailer as you have the full protection of your credit card then!

Re: FTF/Cash Advance Fee

Creditaddict — Fri, 13 Jun 2014 21:51:54 GMT

I think you actually have way less protection by wiring the money to them, not to mention the fees of doing a cash equivilant!

Re: FTF/Cash Advance Fee

JediNeo — Fri, 13 Jun 2014 22:39:16 GMT

Never thought about that. Thanks, I'll pay the retailer directly with my visa.

Re: FTF/Cash Advance Fee

JediNeo — Fri, 13 Jun 2014 22:45:01 GMT

I think my concern dealing directly with the retailer is CC fraud. Lucky I've never had to experience that. In my mind it's easier to lose $x.xx via money gram vs trying to correct issues with possible fraud/ID theft.

Re: FTF/Cash Advance Fee

Anonymous — Sat, 14 Jun 2014 01:24:54 GMT

While not perfect, some issuers have a way of generating temporary card #s on line, that can only be used at one retailer for a short period of time. See, e.g, Citi's Virtual Account Numbers

Re: FTF/Cash Advance Fee

visorboy1974 — Sat, 14 Jun 2014 01:38:11 GMT

With WU/Moneygram, YMMV. Most major banks will code them as cash advances while some credit unions will code them as purchases.

Re: FTF/Cash Advance Fee

trumpet-205 — Sat, 14 Jun 2014 02:00:31 GMT

@JediNeo wrote:
I think my concern dealing directly with the retailer is CC fraud. Lucky I've never had to experience that. In my mind it's easier to lose $x.xx via money gram vs trying to correct issues with possible fraud/ID theft.

Actually, it is much easier to fight CC fraud with direct charges from retailer than through 3rd party such as PayPal, Money Gram, etc.

In fact, you have zero protection if your payment does not come from retailer directly, both in federal law and in T&C aspect.

@Anonymous wrote:
While not perfect, some issuers have a way of generating temporary card #s on line, that can only be used at one retailer for a short period of time. See, e.g, Citi's Virtual Account Numbers

Be careful with this approach. Some retailers will want to manually verify CC before approving charges. This involves either a call to CC issuer or a photo copy of your CC.

Plus, some foreign websites only accept card that support 3-D Secure (Verified by Visa, MasterCard SecureCode). Most US issued card don't support this feature.

Re: FTF/Cash Advance Fee

PandiferBear — Sat, 14 Jun 2014 02:01:01 GMT

@trumpet-205 wrote:
@JediNeo wrote:
I think my concern dealing directly with the retailer is CC fraud. Lucky I've never had to experience that. In my mind it's easier to lose $x.xx via money gram vs trying to correct issues with possible fraud/ID theft.
Actually, it is much easier to fight CC fraud with direct charges from retailer than through 3rd party such as PayPal, Money Gram, etc.

In fact, you have zero protection if your payment does not come from retailer directly, both in federal law and in T&C aspect.

I would want to protect my investment. Especially if it is a large purchase. Your protection as a buyer is a great thing about credit cards.

Re: FTF/Cash Advance Fee

Anonymous — Sat, 14 Jun 2014 02:47:10 GMT

@trumpet-205 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:

While not perfect, some issuers have a way of generating temporary card #s on line, that can only be used at one retailer for a short period of time. See, e.g, Citi's Virtual Account Numbers

Be careful with this approach. Some retailers will want to manually verify CC before approving charges. This involves either a call to CC issuer or a photo copy of your CC.
Plus, some foreign websites only accept card that support 3-D Secure (Verified by Visa, MasterCard SecureCode). Most US issued card don't support this feature.

I would have thought that Citi would verify the Virtual Account number if called, is that not the case?

I've never had a retailer asking for a photocopy of a cc, sounds too dangerous for the sender and, in the age of photoshop, no real protection for the merchant.

Foreign sites I buy from do sometimes attempt Verified by Visa, but drop the request if the card I am using doesn't support it. But I guess that there are those that wouldn't. But if that is the case, the OP is out of luck using a CC anyway, right?

Re: FTF/Cash Advance Fee

trumpet-205 — Sat, 14 Jun 2014 05:15:51 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I've never had a retailer asking for a photocopy of a cc, sounds too dangerous for the sender and, in the age of photoshop, no real protection for the merchant.

Foreign sites I buy from do sometimes attempt Verified by Visa, but drop the request if the card I am using doesn't support it. But I guess that there are those that wouldn't. But if that is the case, the OP is out of luck using a CC anyway, right?

One site I visit from time to time, Play-Asia.com, would ask for a photo copy of CC and photo ID if you use a CC that doesn't support 3-D Secure. It happened to me once. Luckily they allow you to black out everything except your name plus first and last 4 digits of your CC number.

Some foreign sites will reject cards that don't support 3-D Secure. Most would skip it if your card does not support it, but some makes it mandatory.

And no, Citi does not verifiy virtual account number if you engage a conference call with them and retailers.

Note: 3-D Secure is a collective name for Verified by Visa, MasterCard SecureCode, AMEX SafeKey, etc.