USA Today ran a story last week that said Mastercard is going to stop third party billing. If that is the case then Paypal, CCBill and others would stop accepting Mastercard as a payment vehicle. Mastercard claims it is taking this step to cut down on Credit card fraud.
Now that is complete and total bullshit and the people at Mastercard know it. It is far safer to use your credit card online than it is to use it in a retail establishment. Online NOBODY sees your credit card info, not even me, its all handled by machine. Almost all credit card and identity theft occurs from careless retailers and careless cardholders. Analysts seem to think that this strategy, if implemented would backfire on Mastercard. I think they are right. As a matter of fact if Mastercard goes through with this I will cancel mine immediately, fuck them. If you want to join my site you can still do so via Visa, American Express, Discover or your checking account. If Mastercard is serious about curtailing card abuse they will stop sending out pre approved cards and such because that is how the majority of credit card abuse occurs. The pre approved letter gets hijacked and the card gets applied for and the intended recipient has no idea the card was even issued. When this does happen, usually Mastercard just writes off the debt instead of pressing charges in response to the theft.
Additionally this is very possibly an illegal restraint on interstate commerce and potentially illegal on unfair practices and anti trust grounds as well. Are you listening J.D.?
If you own a Mastercard you may wish to call them and tell them how you feel. The number is 800-622-7747
