[103514] in Cypherpunks
Re: Cypherpunks defeat?
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Lazlo Toth)
Mon Sep 28 22:23:17 1998
In-Reply-To: <199809282249.XAA22561@server.eternity.org>
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1998 22:01:10 -0400
To: Adam Back <aba@dcs.ex.ac.uk>, petro@playboy.com
From: Lazlo Toth <lazlototh@hempseed.com>
Cc: cypherpunks@cyberpass.net
Reply-To: Lazlo Toth <lazlototh@hempseed.com>
On or about 11:49 PM +0100 9/28/98, Adam Back wrote:
>You want to buy ecash tokens with plastic. Ideally you want to be
>able to buy ecash tokens with an ATM card because you don't want to
>incur any withdrawal fee (ATM withdrawals incur no transaction fee the
>UK, US may be different.)
In the case of my US bank it's the opposite: ATM withdrawals, unless I use
a machine owned by my bank, cost me US$1.50. Credit card fees on the other
hand are paid by the merchant, who is contractually bound NOT to pass them
on to me.
>Buying ecash tokens with a credit card is going to result in the cash
>advance minimum fee, plus unwanted (and typically double digit APR)
>interest on the "advance".
>
>Debit cards are a bit cheaper, but still incur some fee (unless a bank
>could be persuaded to waive it for this class of transaction).
My debit card functions as both ATM and credit card. When given a choice I
will always prefer to use it as a credit card, which costs me nothing.
-Lazlo
