"Can you do me a favor?"

[Shalom]

I was in the last bay of the pharmacy, checking for something or other, and I hear some customer come in and start talking to my tech. Then he asks him, "Can you do me a favor?"

Well that depends what the favor is, I guess.

"I need some money, can you charge $50 on my card and give me the cash?"



"HELL NO!" Yes, I said exactly that. In fact I shouted it, from where I was standing in the last bay.

Then he had the chutzpah to ask me why not.

"Because I'd like to keep from losing my merchant account, that's why not."

Sheesh.

[Exaspera]

There's no ATM around?

[Teskeria]

There's no ATM around?

Some cards like the Amex charge cards (Green, Gold, Platinum, Centurion) do not have a credit line and therefore don't allow you to withdraw cash (Yes you can set it up to withdraw from your checking account with one of those, but that obviously wasn't what he wanted to do)

for anyone wondering, a charge card MUST be paid in full every month and you don't pay interest. A credit/lending card you can choose to pay less than the whole amount and you pay interest.

[sirwired]

Loser wanted to avoid a cash advance fee. With a cash advance, the fees that would normally be paid by the merchant are instead paid by the customer (with some hefty profit tacked on.)

When I worked retail we could actually do cash advances... there was an option for it on our credit terminal.

If you have a customer wanting a cash advance in the future and he doesn't know his ATM PIN, direct him to a bank. Most bank branches can issue Visa/MC cash advances with just a signature, and you don't need an account there.

Oh, Amex Green does allow cash advances; I do it with my corporate card all the time when I'm on travel.

SirWired

[Mr.Customer]

Most merchants can't do cash advances on a credit card regardless of what type it is. Unlike a debit card where the cash is withdrawn, a charge card is a loan and a cash advance can only be issued at a bank or atm. Mainly because they need a pin number to make the cash advance, where at the merchant they may not need a pin number, so a thief with a stolen credit card would love to make a cash advance from some gulible merchant.

Also a merchant can be paying up to 5% of a purchase on a charge card, so to advance someone $50 could cost the merchant $2.50 or more (depending on the charges) it also costs the merchant to make a cash advance on a debit card, but it is a per transaction fee, so most will do a cash advance if the person is making a purchase at the same time since it costs them nothing extra, but not on charge cards.