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Wells Fargo Bans Cryptocurrency Purchases On Its Credit Cards (bloomberg.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: Wells Fargo customers hoping to use their credit cards to buy Bitcoin will have to look elsewhere. While putting a prohibition on such cryptocurrency purchases for now, Wells Fargo "will continue to evaluate the issue as the market evolves," Shelley Miller, a spokeswoman, said in an emailed statement. Wells Fargo joins Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America, which limited cryptocurrency purchases on their credit cards in February, citing market volatility and credit risks. Lenders have said they're worried they'd be left on the hook if a borrower lost money on a digital currency bet and couldn't repay. A study conducted by LendEDU last year found that roughly 18 percent of Bitcoin investors used a credit card to fund the purchases. Of those, 22 percent couldn't pay off their balance after buying the digital coin.
As opposed to plastic crap from big-box stores, ever-shifting expensive fashions, electronics designed to be obsolete by next CES, and all the other pointless crap we're bombarded with in advertising. When you can't pay the credit card bill, you can just flog all that stuff for beaucoup bucks on Craigslist or eBay.
Pining for the days when The Glorious MEEPT!!! graced SlapDash with his wisdom.
How much did those 22% buy?
Are the banks trying to not allow new currencies?
Why don't they just explain how currency works in education systems?
Didn't anyone read about the tulips?
cryptards shouldn't be using credit anyway
As someone who's interested in the crypto market and believes it does gave future, I applaud this decision.
Generating debt by buying cryptocurrencies is stupid.
...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
What other charges or goods/services does Wells Fargo prohibit customers using their credit cards for?
As long as product/service is legal, don't see how this is legal. Image Wells Fargo prohibiting purchases of Girl Scout Cookies, or changes to grocery stores that Wells Fargo doesn't own.
Are (any) fiat-currency and (any) cryptocurrency really equivalent, as cryptocurrency fans claim?
For example, US Dollar and Bitcoin are really equals?
Value/validity/authorization of US dollar is provided/guaranteed by US Government (and in-turn whole US Public)!
Also, not to mention, US Dollars in any US Bank is insured by US Government!
What authorization/guarantee/insurance is behind Bitcoin? Nothing!
Sorry but that is the end of discussion then!
Why do you think Satoshi Nakamoto is really hiding his identity, if Bitcoin is really such a great innovation?
He is just someone does not like media/fan attention?
Or, could it be really because Bitcoin (and all cryptocurrencies followed it) are actually Ponzi Schemes?
(So he knew very well that law enforcement would come after him sooner or later?!)
If so-called cryptocurrencies are really good innovation, why they attract so many criminals/criminal activity?
Could it really be because, all cryptocurrencies themselves are scams, and that is why they attract all kinds of criminals/criminal activity?
If so-called cryptocurrencies are really currency, why no company/store can use Bitcoin as currency anymore?
Because the price of Bitcoin proved to be extremely unstable to use as a currency?
Would the result be different, if Bitcoin replaced by any other "cryptocurrency"?
Aren't all work the same way?
If so-called cryptocurrencies are really money; isn't people issuing their own money, illegal already, in all countries?
If so then, why they are still not banned in all countries?
Or, they are not actually virtual currency but virtual investment?
But, if they are actually investment, why we need/want them?
What would happen to world economy, if people invested in virtual investments, instead of real investments?
Or, all so-called cryptocurrencies are actually just a modified (made decentralized and paying variable interest) Ponzi Schemes?
(Price of cryptocurrencies would keep increasing in the long term (by their design), so it is equivalent of paying variable interest to all long term investors.)
Also, since all so-called cryptocurrencies are actually financial scams (Ponzi Schemes), that means, they cannot be the solution for any of existing financial problems of our world!
As more and more people invest in cryptocurrencies, it will become harder and harder to ban their trading everywhere (because people invested in cryptocurrencies, would try to stop anyone trying to ban cryptocurrencies)!
All cryptocurrencies need to be banned globally before it is too late!
All the smart investors planning for retirement know the future is silver stacking.
A lot of people want to go to a cashless society but I don't want a private company telling me what I can or cannot buy with my money, so fuck a cashless society for now.
The #1 way to get bitcoins for cash right now is one of the many "in person" local bitcoin sales services. It's like craigslist but for purchasing bitcoins for cash. So meeting some sketchy dude in a Denny's parking lot is the preferred, most reliable method for buying bitcoins. This is why people don't respect bitcoins.
My main credit card's bank treats it like a cash advance. It is a pretty sensible way to handle high risk buying without acting like dirtbag thugs. No one in their right mind would ever knowingly use a credit card for cash advances, but the option is there if desired. I despise payment processors who tell people what they can do with their money and act like de facto law enforcement for things that aren't even illegal.
Now we just need to ban Wells Fargo for good as well. Kill 2 birds with 1 stone.
They won't let customers purchase bitcoin, because they are worried about being left on the hook if the customer won't repay. As always has been the case, the customer can go ahead and max out their card by purchasing ephemeral things like expensive dinners and seeing movies, because the bank won't be on the hook for that if the customer can't or won't pay those charges back?
Wells Fargo bank teller stole nearly $200,000 from a customer (Sept. 29, 2017)
Should you sign up for the class action lawsuit against Wells Fargo? (Sept. 29, 2017)
Senators have harsh words for Wells Fargo head (Oct. 4, 2017) Quote:
Attorney General to make a demand to Wells Fargo for damages on fake bank and credit card accounts (Nov. 29, 2017)
Wells Fargo cheated millions of customers. The Republican tax bill is about to hand it a big win. (Dec. 19, 2017)
A bunch of feckless cunts. Fuck DeNiro.
If 22% of TV purchasers defaulted, leaving Wells Fargo to pay the bill, you bet your ass Wells Fargo would stop paying for TVs.
The problem is people think they can later resell the Bitcoins in order to pay back Wells Fargo, so they buy more than they can afford to pay back from the paycheck. When Bitcoin prices drop to half of what they were a few months earlier, people can't pay the bill. People don't buy TVs with the thought they can resell it later and thereby pay off the debt.
You do understand it's Wells Fargo that's paying for the Bitcoins, right? Also 22% of the time, they never get paid back.
> Image Wells Fargo prohibiting purchases of Girl Scout Cookies, or changes to grocery stores that Wells Fargo doesn't own.
Yes, imagine if I could only use my Lowe's credit card at Lowe's, and not at Home Depot. Or if my Sears card could only be used at Sears, not at Dillard's.
Generating debt by buying cryptocurrencies is stupid.
More stupid than using your credit card for gambling? Why ban just cryptocurrencies and not all other forms of gambling?
This is exactly what I was taking about a few months ago about how banks control you! (and a whole bunch of people hated me for it and slammed me on this forum) They control what you can BUY. It does not matter if they say they are trying to protect you, it is your money and you should be allowed to spend it how you like, especially if you pay your debts. (I know you are borrowing the money, and one can say they are protecting their money, however many people make bad purchases on credit all the time and that is NOT the point) The point is they are controlling you and if you cannot see that you are only helping to make the problem worse. The whole reason cryptocurrency exists is because people are tired of the bank telling you what you can and cannot buy plus all the trillions of dollars in fees they make off of you. Wells Fargo is freaking out because if cryptocurrency succeeds they go out of business.
it's about the FCBA. These are high risk transactions. Exchanges can and will get hacked and well, it's an unregulated security. It's no surprise Wells Fargo wants to steer clear of that.
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I can already smell the scam: Get a credit card, buy cryptocurrency, tear up credit card and refuse to pay. Technically, all you have is 'tokens' that're not legal tender in any government. They are technically worthless, so they can't be seized by a court.
And even if by some twist of logic, some court did decide to rule Cryptocurrency isn't a token, but it is in fact a legal tender, or commodity, or whatever.. still, you're going to have a real tough time trying to extract cryptocurrency from any individual.
The normal collections methods are not going to affect cryptocurrencies in any way, shape or form. In REALITY, cryptocurrency coins are literally NOTHING.
But I imagine a clever criminal will find a way to mask the purchase to make this work out, anyway. So .. no solutions here, nothing more than a: Good luck with that!
Wells Fargo is on my list of businesses I lost trust in and can never do business with.
If one is dumb enough to still do business with noneworse bank, then I guess one probably needs a noneworse bank babysitting service.
Can I buy Bitcoin with a debit card? That is not unsecured, it is MY money, not theirs.
I am not sure I completely agree with their right to refuse to allow me to use a credit card to buy either. When I sign up for the card, they look at how much I earn. It is part of their due diligence to not extend a credit line that I am not qualified for. If they are complaining that people are buying too much Bitcoin and can't pay it back, that means they extended a line of credit that they should not have. If the person, however, does qualify for a line of credit, then the bank has offered to make an unsecured loan of money and they should have no influence on what that money is spent on. If I am considered good for $10k worth of electronics, then I am good for $10k, regardless of what I buy with it.
With various companies over the past ten or so years seeing fit to pick and choose what legal products people will spend their own money on, there needs to be a law telling credit card operators, banks, and companies that pretend to be banks (I'm looking at you Paypal) that they may not disallow users from buying otherwise legal goods and services with their cards or accounts. This always seemed like the way things always should be, but now we have control-freak busybodies taking it upon themselves to decide what the masses should and should not buy.
Do you really think Wells Fargo's 10,000 accountants can't do basic arithmetic? Well Fargo makes money when people use their cards, then pay off the purchases, with interest. Wells Fargo WANTS people to use their cards, as much as possible. That's why they spend millions on marketing, to get people to use their cards.
If Wells Fargo doesn't want their cards uses for X, it's because they are losing money on X. This isn't a company that takes the moral high ground, ever.
If Wells Fargo doesn't want their cards uses for X, it's because they are losing money on X. This isn't a company that takes the moral high ground, ever.
Why exactly is a company immoral if it doesn't want to subsidize its customers' whims at its own expense, especially when we're talking about the notoriously environmentally-unfriendly cryptocurrencies?
I didn't say it's immoral for them to not lose money on cryptocurrency.
I said the REASON they don't want to buy cryptocurrency is because they lose money that way, not because they have some moralistic reason.
To put it another way, yes you're right Bitcoin wastes a TON of energy and it's really, really bad for the environment. Wells Fargo doesn't care about that. Of course Bitcoin is used by criminals. Wells Fargo doesn't care, Wells Fargo is criminals. Wells isn't doing this for any reason but one - because they lose money on it.
Sure, but how is buying Bitcoin worse than buying commemorative crap on the Home Shopping Channel?
Home Shopping Channel makes even Bitcoin look like a good investment.
No sig today...
I DID go look elsewhere. Didn't have a card with Wells, but go screw yourself :)
HSN purchasers don't plan to resell the stuff within 30 days at a profit and use the proceeds to pay the credit card bill?*
If HSN had people spending thousands of dollars on commemorative Obama coins and 22% didn't pay the bill, I wouldn't be surprised if Wells Fargo noticed that and either put the screws to HSN via their merchant account, or banned payments to HSN.
* We are talking about Obama fans, so who knows.
So these assholes' argument is that people might buy a bunch of bitcoin and not be able to repay. Why is it okay for someone to blow their credit line on pr0n or Amazon and not be able to repay, but not to buy something that has actual value and not be able to repay?
The end result is the same. If you think your customer won't be able to repay, then you've given them too large a credit line. Don't blame bitcoin for your astonishing fiscal irresponsibility.
Being prevented from spending your money the way you choose is exactly why we needed bitcoin in the first place.
Have they stopped those too due to the risk of default?
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
Sure, but how is buying Bitcoin worse than buying commemorative crap on the Home Shopping Channel?
It's pure statistics. WF's numbers show that people who buy bitcoin on their cards are more likely to go into default. Buying crap on HSN is not "better" or "worse", it's just statistically less likely to correlate with WF losing money on the purchase.