I have a fuller bum, you got a flat bum. !!!!!!

Just return the crack card to them, say the bank should give better quality card and keep on talking and complaining, they will tak boleh tahan and give you replacement la....... hahahaha. If the card is crack but still usable, use a strong magnet (form hard disk), destry the card information inside the chip la. If to be secure use 4 magnets and leave it overnight, sure guarantee 100000% the information went bezerk.

I have another question. My CC Visa eagle hologram destroys overtime as the friction with the card machine. How to prevent the eagle to be killed? If put a layer of laquer, then it may risk a fake card identification, if put celophane tape then look funny and lame. How? Thanks for any feedbacks.

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Added on July 15, 2009, 10:07 pmIf just RM10 ok la, give them la. Just get a shiny card and showoff to people behind your queue at Tesco or other places.

I wonder when all CC will be metal made like Centurion or Black Card. Walaueh...cool.

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Added on July 15, 2009, 10:11 pmFiberglass to replace plastics also a good idea. I watched on Astro that a type of carbon fiber that will retract to it's original shape when dip into hot water and is harder than metal. Used by NASA projects. Thats COOL !

This post has been edited by zazaza2009: Jul 15 2009, 10:11 PM

My Plat works like this, 2 sets of cards and personal ID were sent separately in different time/days for security reasons. Cards through Poslaju which I didn't receive (lousy service Poslaju) and the ID were from normal postman.

I knew the Plat upgrade when I received the passwords and I called up the card center and ask for a trace number for the Poslaju package. I got the trace ID and claimed the cards from the Poslaju office and then activated the CC thereafter.

The amount spent on the sub cards will be billed to the primary card. The main card and the sub card has their own personal passwords for ATM machine withdrawal and other transactions. Last time the prime ONLY have the password for ATM access. Now both have seperate ID so that if someone hacks the password, the sub card won't be affected.

What is SOP?

For your reading pleasure
==================

Background
A credit card allows consumers to purchase products or services without cash and to pay for them at a later date. To qualify for this type of credit, the consumer must open an account with a bank or company, which sponsors a card. They then receive a line of credit with a specified dollar amount. They can use the card to make purchases from participating merchants until they reach this credit limit. Every month the sponsor provides a bill, which tallies the card activity during the previous 30 days. Depending on the terms of the card, the customer may pay interest charges on the amount that they do not pay for on a monthly basis. Also, credit cards may be sponsored by large retailers (such as major clothing or department stores) or by banks or corporations (like VISA or American Express).

Credits cards are a relatively recent development. The VISA Company, for example, traces its history back to 1958 when the Bank of America began its BankAmericard program. In the mid-1960s, the Bank of America began to license banks in the United States the rights to issue its special BankAmericards. In 1977 the name Visa was adopted internationally to cover all these cards. VISA became the first credit card to be recognized worldwide.

The banks and companies that sponsor credit cards profit in three ways. Primarily they make money from the interest payments charged on the unpaid balance, but they also can make money by charging an annual fee for the use of the card. The income from this fee, which is typically only $50 or $75 per customer per year, can be substantial considering that the larger companies have tens of millions of customers. In addition, the sponsors make money by charging merchants a small percentage of income for the service of the card. This arrangement is acceptable to the merchants because they can let their customers pay by credit card instead of requiring cash. The merchant makes arrangements to participate in a credit card program with a merchant bank, which in turn works with a card-issuing bank. The merchant bank determines what percentage of the total purchase value has to be paid by the merchant to the card-issuing bank. The amount varies depending on the volume and type of business, but in general it is between 1-2%. A percentage of that amount is kept by the merchant bank as a transaction-processing fee. For companies like American Express which sponsor cards, the processing fee may be significantly higher. Furthermore, sponsors may generate income by leasing credit card verification equipment to merchants (especially if the merchants can not afford to purchase the equipment themselves.) Finally, sponsors may profit by charging service fees for late payments.

Design
Credit cards are designed with complex security features to prevent the possibility of fraud. These features involve the card's account number, its signature panel, and its magnetic stripe. The card's unique account number is the key piece of information needed to conduct a financial transaction and must be carefully protected. To prevent someone from using a wrong account number, or from making up a phony number, companies rely on the laws of statistics for protection. By using long account numbers they make it unlikely that a number can be faked. For example, the Visa card has 13 digits, American Express has 15, Diners Club 14, and MasterCard has 20. Mathematically, nine digits would provide one billion unique account numbers (000000000, 000000001, 0000000002, and so forth up to 999999999) which would be enough for all the customers of a given company. (The largest companies, Visa and MasterCard, only have about 65 million customers.) If only 65 million numbers are assigned out of a possible 10 trillion possibilities, it is unlikely that anyone will be able to mistakenly use another account number. If an incorrect account number is mistakenly entered by a store clerk, it will almost certainly not be accepted. This statistical security gives companies confidence that someone is not making up a number when conducting business over the phone. Of course, this security measure does not help if someone obtains a real number and uses it fraudulently.

Another security design feature involves the signature panel on the back of the card. The signature is intended to document the owner's handwriting so a forged signature on a receipt can be detected. To prevent criminals from erasing the back panel of a stolen card and putting on their own signature, the panel is printed with a fingerprint design that is difficult to duplicate and that will come off when the original signature is erased. If the signature is erased, this design will disappear too leaving a white spot, which instantly indicates the card has been tampered with. Some card manufacturers imprint the word VOID beneath this panel, which is revealed upon erasure.

The magnetic stripe on the back of the card is a third security feature. The stripe is an area coated with particles of iron oxide that can be encoded with binary information, which identifies the card as authentic. It is difficult to determine exactly what information is coded on the strip because for security reasons companies do not wish to discuss this. However, it is likely that the card's expiration date is one fact recorded on the strip because automatic teller machines (ATMs) will retain cards that have expired. It is unlikely that information like credit limit, address, phone number, employer, is recorded on the stripe because banks do not reissue cards when this type of information changes.

Finally, some cards feature special features that make them hard to duplicate, such as complicated holograms.

Raw Materials
Cards are made of several layers of plastic laminated together. The core is commonly made from a plastic resin known as polyvinyl chloride acetate (PVCA). This resin is mixed with opacifying materials, dyes, and plasticizers to give it the proper appearance and consistency. This core material is laminated with thin layers of PVCA or clear plastic materials. These laminates will adhere to the core when applied with pressure and heat.

A variety of inks or dyes are also used for printing credit cards. These are available in a variety of colors and are designed for use on plastic substrates. Some manufacturers use special magnetic inks to print the magnetic stripe on the back of the card. The inks are made by dispersing metal oxide particles in the appropriate solvents. Additional special printing processes are involved for cards, like VISA, which feature holograms.

The Manufacturing
Process
The manufacturing process consists of multiple steps: first the plastic core and laminate materials are compounded and cast into sheet form; then the core is the printed with appropriate information; next the laminates are applied to the core; and finally the assembled sheet is cut into individual cards.

Plastic compounding and molding
1 The plastic for the core sheet is made by melting and mixing polyvinyl chloride acetate with other additives. The blended components are transferred to an extrusion molding apparatus, which forces the molten plastic through a small flat orifice known as a die. As the sheet exits the die, it goes through a series of three rollers stacked on top of each other that pulls the sheet along. These rollers keep the sheet flat and maintain the proper thickness. The sheets may then pass through additional cooling units before being cut into separate sheets by saws, shears, or hot wires. The cut sheets enter a sheet stacker that stacks them into place and stores them for subsequent operations.
2 The laminate films used to coat the core stock are made by a similar extrusion process. These thinner films may be made with a slot cast die process in which a molten plastic film is spread on a casting roller. The roller determines the film's thickness and width. Upon cooling the films are stored on rolls until ready for use.

Printing
3 The plastic core of the card is printed with text and graphics. This is done using a variety of common silk screen processes. In addition, one of the laminate films may also undergo subsequent operations where it is imprinted with magnetic ink. Alternately, the magnetic stripe may be added by a hot stamping method. The magnetic heads used to code and decode the iron oxide particles can only operate if the magnetic medium is close to the surface of the card, so the metal particles must be placed on top of the laminating layer. Upon completion of the printing process, the core is ready to be laminated.
Lamination
4 Lamination helps protect the finish of the card and increases its strength. In this process, sheets of core stock are fed through a system of rollers. Rolls of laminate stock are located above and below the core stock. These rolls feed the laminate into the vacuum shoes along with the core stock. The vacuum holds the three pieces of plastic together while they travel to a tacking station. At the tacking station a pair of quartz infrared heat lamps warm the upper and lower plastic films. These lamps are backed with reflectors to focus the radiant energy onto a narrow area of the films, which optimizes a smooth bonding of the film to the core stock. The laminate films are then fully bonded to the core stock by pressing with metal platens, which are heated to 266° F (130° C) and applied with a pressure of 166 psi/sq inch. This lamination process may take up to 3 minutes.
Die cutting and embossing
5 After lamination has been completed, the finished assembly is cut and completed by die cutting methods. Each assembly yields a sheet, which is cut into 63 credit cards. This is achieved by first cutting the assembly longitudinally to form seven elongated sections. Each of the seven sections is then cut and trimmed to form nine credit cards. In subsequent operations, the card is embossed with account numbers. The finished cards are then prepared for shipping, usually by attaching the card to a paper letter with adhesive.
Quality Control
Key quality issues are associated with the compounding of plastic and color matching of the inks. The American National Standards Institute has a standard for plastic raw materials (ANSI specification x4.16-1973). As with any compounding procedure, ingredients must be properly weighed and mixed and blended under the appropriate temperature and sheer conditions. Similarly, the molding process must be monitored to avoid defects, which could cause the cards to crack or break. The final quality check is to make sure the correct numbers are stamped on the cards during the embossing process.

The Future
Future credit card manufacturing processes are likely to evolve in three key areas. First, continued improvements in plastic chemistry and molding technology are likely to allow cards to be made increasingly cheaper and easier. Second, breakthroughs in digital technology are likely to improve the way credit cards are kept secure with advanced magnetic coding. One recent advance is the use of a new generation of magnetic stripes which are harder to duplicate. This improvement combats the trend toward duplicating card information and copying it to phony cards. Perhaps even more importantly, new generations of credit cards will carry integrated computer chips, containing a variety of useful information. For instance, these future cards will be able to operate a frequent flyer program on the same card as a debit or credit account. Other services will allow users to participate in frequency or loyalty programs with merchants, including storing hotel reservation preferences. Financial institutions may develop partnerships with local mass transit systems so public transit could be paid for with these "smart" cards in various cities throughout the world. Third, marketing initiatives resulting from these advances in card technology are likely to make credit cards even more pervasive in society. For example, American Express has just launched a new Blue card that is expected to reach new levels of worldwide acceptance.

Source: http://www.madehow.com/Volume-4/Credit-Card.html




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Credit limit is not a person's worth and it is only virtual overdraft given by the bank. You got to pay whatever spent.

I am very scared that my card will be hacked and illegal spending occurs. The higher the CL, the higher the risk ones got to endure.

Vin_ann,

I am not that real world kind of scare but worried. Guess this is the risk everyone have to endure in this cyber age.
I have a friend as a victim. So she has to make police report and wasted lots of her time and night of sleep.

However I will not downgrade to gold card because I have to improve in life and not walk backwards.
Just becareful in handling your CC.

This post has been edited by zazaza2009: Jul 17 2009, 10:25 AM

Credit limit doesn't signifies ones success, the type of card does. Credit limit only allows you to spend more, no use if your classic card is given 100k limit and you can't pay the dues.

People will hold your card when you pay for something and you will not be asked the credit limit.
People will not see it, people will respect if you got Plat and above in Malaysia. Got it?

Not to say showoff because some people have Plat being sub for them but couldn't spend any because of the payer doesn't allow so. You don't simply downgrade for no reason. Primary reason is I believe that you have not met payments in a good fashion or you don't want to be potrayed as a richer society image.

For me downgrade from gold to classic for example in the same bank is not neccesary. Better to apply classic from a different bank to keep a good record.

Walking backwards means that you pokai liao, cannot payback and owe people a lot of money, so have to downgrade. Tak faham ke ni? Lu Pikiah La Sendiri !

This post has been edited by zazaza2009: Jul 17 2009, 12:02 PM

I know a big boss for a auto workshop in Penang. He is worth I think a few millions. But he only cycling to coffee shop everyday.

Different sea different fish. Enjoy life and make the money worth. Just maybe he feels comfortable to cycle and not to make people rob him. Or simple he is used to be low profile lifestyled. Family background also a factor. Or just he wanted to save money for his next gen.

This post has been edited by zazaza2009: Jul 17 2009, 12:06 PM

Credit Limit is not that important because a person can hold a few credit card and yet combined to be higher CL for him. For example have 3 cards from MBB, HLB and SC, all CL is 30k, then is 90k all togehter.

If get too high CL also have to pay the bank if spent. Most of the banks also give free for life, swipes for Free AF waiver. Aiya, just agree with moderate 25k CL enough for many thing liao. So high for what? If spent 30k also cannot pay back to the bank, what for?

The most important is not CL or CC type......the most...most important is the ability to pay what you spent without kena finance charges. That's will be the HERO. Hold Black Card also no use if kena interest and cannot pay the bank back the full amount and risks being bankcrupt.

LU PIKIAH LA SENDIRI !

I think Merchants won't know the CL limit. They only know the card is able to pay for the bill. So when the card explodes when being swiped then the CL is breach or card banned. Time to call Card Center to increase CL amount.

Salary is a higher level personal than CL. I not sure and wonder anyone could answer this question.

Vamp,

I agree CL is important if you want to buy something expensive that involves thousands. If normal shopping or movies, then Debit card also jadi la.

If you use Black Card in Malaysia also not many people recognizes and feel the superiority la, have to wait somebody spot it and pst...pst..pst bisik to friend , then baru glamour la. Nanti card cannot cross the river, malu la....


PIKIAK LA SENDIRI !

This post has been edited by zazaza2009: Jul 17 2009, 02:17 PM

If you got the money in the bank(s), any card also they can give you. Even BC also will be invited if you are famous and rich enough. If a commoner apply for something big, then bank consider that, this, tut, tat and finally the manager will decide.

This post has been edited by zazaza2009: Jul 17 2009, 03:11 PM