If Capital One merges with Discovercard, I will boycott /all/ credit cards (is that even possible?)
If Capital One merges with Discovercard, I will boycott /all/ credit cards (is that even possible?)
Regulators have dragged their feet on new bank merger guidelines. They now have a $35 billion reason to get moving.
For the past ~15 years I have tried for the most part to boycott:
- American Express for being an #ALEC member (which supports #climateDenial and obstructs public healthcare, public education, immigration, gun control, etc), and for participating in the #Wikileaks donation blockade
- Visa for pushing the #warOnCash (member of #betterThanCashAlliance.org and offering huge rewards to merchants who refuse cash), for participating in the #Wikileaks donation blockade, and for blocking Tor users from anonymously opting out of data sharing on their credit cards
- Mastercard for pushing the #warOnCash (member of betterThanCashAlliance.org), for participating in the #Wikileaks donation blockade, and for blocking Tor users from anonymously opting out of data sharing on their credit cards
Discovercard has always been a clear lesser of evils. So Discovercard has earned the majority of my business whenever cash is not possible. But now I hear chatter that #Discovercard might merge with a shitty bank that had an embarrassing data leak by an Amazon contractor: #CapitalOne. I was disappointed when Samual Jackson promoted #CapOne. Capital One supported Trump’s Jan.6 insurrection attempt among other things.
So what’s left? JCB (Japanese) and UnionPay (China). JCB pulled out of the US like 10 years ago. People outside the US can get a #JCB card but then IIRC it uses the Discovercard network in the US and the #AmEx network in Canada.
I already favor cash whenever possible. In other cases it will be hard to choose the lesser of evils between CapOne and Mastercard.
update
Found an insightful article detailing a loophole that the fed gave to Discovercard which is why Capital One intends to buy it.
Maybe PayPal in-house balances for payments where it's accepted? That's a pretty small network (by comparison) and, really, if PayPal is your least-evil option you may as well either suck off the other corporations or suffer the inconvenience of cash.
#PayPal is one of the most evil:
https://git.disroot.org/cyberMonk/liberethos_paradigm/src/branch/master/rap_sheets/paypal.md
I got burnt personally by them but even if I hadn’t they are among the least ethical options. There are some vendors selling products I would like to buy but they accept paypal exclusively, so I walk.. and go without. Recently I have encountered some small brick and mortar shops/cafes that use “Zettle”. #Zettle is paypal. So if I see Zettle and they don’t take cash, I walk out. They share data with over 600 corporations so I will not allow Paypal to serve as a payment processor of my credit or debit card. Paypal are rotten to the core scumbags. They have some sneaky tricks for keeping people’s money under the guise of AML/KYC/anti-fraud, even though they are not a bank and escape those regulations anyway. It’s no surprise Elon Musk and Peter Thiel were involved with the founding of that company.
Exactly; I view them as the worst of the lot. But, like gasoline for my car and biometrics on my driver's license and passport, I end up holding my nose because I know that - effectively - there is no clean, convenient way to circumvent them. And paypal - I use it for business transactions when I have to. Not because I like them, but because - for a business my size - there is no other way to take a payment remotely that doesn't carry ridiculous fees and minimums.
I dont use credit cards at all due to the high interest. I borrow against my crypto holdings for ~5% when i absolutely must and use crypto to purchase most things in my life. In fact, the only things I cannot use crypto to buy is things that require an ACH transfer, such as my mortgage payment, car payment, and credit card bills.
I would love to be using cryptocurrency in cashless situations instead of just nixing those options. I’ve reached a point where if it’s not sold locally for cash I don’t buy it. Cryptocurrency has failed me because most exchangers are in Cloudflare’s giant walled garden and I will not patronize a Cloudflare user. There are cryptocurrency ATMs but the fees are extortionate.