kt0157

I've been reading around credit cards in Canada, and there appears to be nothing like the laws in the UK that make the credit card company jointly liable for delivery of goods and services. This means that if a company takes your money and doesn't deliver, a Canadian credit company weasels out of refunding you: no "charge backs" allowed.

Are there any credit cards that actually provide protection to UK standards? I'm seriously thinking of getting a Canadian dollar account in my UK bank and avoiding crappy Canadian banks altogether.

K.

Steve_P

Don't know where you are getting your information from but I don't believe it to be true.

I have a TD Bank Visa Gold card which gives you ninety days after the date of sale to dispute any purchases and reverse charges if necessary for non-delivery of goods etc.

I can't find any reference to it on the internet but have used it so I do know the policy exists.

Oh and before someone else steps in and says yes but you have to pay an annual fee for a Visa Gold Card that also is untrue, at least with the one from TD Bank. CIBC charges an annual fee so you do have to shop around.

kt0157

How about this from Citibank:

"If you incur Debtthrough the use of the Account number or your Card number without having presented your Card to a merchant (such as for an Internet, mail order or telephone Purchase), the legal effect will be the same as if you used your Card and signed a Purchase or Cash Advance draft."

Or from ATB:

"Agreement will not affect your obligation to pay all amounts owing to ATB. Upon any termination,cancellation,or suspension of Card,Card Account or this Agreement: a) all Debt (whether posted to the Card Account,or posted in the future,including without limitation, all Debt not yet incurred or that has not been processed, We shall not be responsible for any defect in, or the quality of, any goods or services obtained from a business by use of the Card or Cheque, or both, nor for any losses resulting from and disclosure by you of a Card or PIN number. Any claim or dispute between you and any business,with respect to any charge,including any right to set-off or compensation,shall be settled directly between you and the business and shall have no effect on your indebtedness to us. "

Now, Visa do offer the E-Promise guarantee when using the card for Internet, mail and phone purchases. They will compensate for non-delivery. That's probably what you claimed on. This doesn't apply to MasterCard or Amex. It appears that Visa is the only "safe" card to use in Canada for Internet purchases.

Don't believe me? Tell you what, let's try an experiment. Call up your MasterCard issuer and challenge the last mail order transaction on your statement. If they agree to refund without hassle you know you're safe (and say "oh, my mistake, it did turn up."). If they don't agree to refund then you know your card was issued by weasels: cut it up and return the pieces. Stick with your Visa card.

Oh, another thing I noticed: card issuers must be reading software licence agreements and learning from the minions of Satan. About half of them don't disclose the T&Cs during the application process and instead say "I agree to be bound by the terms and conditions that you will send me through the post with my card". (Take a look at President's Choice as an example).

What a bunch of weasels.

K.

kt0157

I in no way wished to impugn the integrity of the weasel by comparing it to the Canadian banking system. I apologize if any weasels reading this have been offended.

K.