Originally Posted by
limitup
I am not an expert but what is quite scary is if this "PayPass technology" is the really an RFID chip.
As for as I know that would mean everybody is tracable at every second.
If this is the case I am wondering where this will end? People don't seem to care. The card would be useless indeed then as I would leave it at home too.
Paypass is indeed an embedded RFID chip. However, people over estimate how these are read. The kind embedded in these cards doesn't even read when more than 10mm away from the reader. I usually have to rub my Amex on the readers for 10-15 seconds before they figure out the details.
Add to that the amount of polar fluid in our bodies and metal in our pocket and the urban legend of big brother tracing your every move quickly vanishes. But hey, why apply logic
Originally Posted by
SMK77
But any shop, restaurant, airline will be able to charge you 1% on top of your bill. And your bill already includes 2.5% handling fee that the shop, restaurant or airline is paying. Plus you have an additional charge for using the card abroad - 1% + 2,5% + 1,75% is a total of 5.25% that you might end up paying when using your shiny Mastercard abroad... That´s crazy!
All credit card companies charge the vendor a fee. Amex has a lot of acceptance problems in Europe because their fee is 4.5-5%, where Visa and MC are pretty much the same (2-2.5%). No vendor likes it, but accepts it to stay in business, offer their customers convenience of paying and most importantly not noticing in real terms how much money they just spent
. The cost is of course hidden in the price you pay to the vendor. If the vendor decides to make this cost of convenience transparent to the customer, what wrong with that?
As far as additional charges for using you card in anything other than your native currency, thats an old industry trick, not invented by DKB/LBB/LH. Show me a card that doesn't charge that.