What is the biggest credit card purchase in history? Here’s the answer… sort of…

Imagine opening up your monthly credit card statement to discover that you owe $23 quadrillion dollars! Well, around 13,000 cardholders of Bank of America’s prepaid cards saw exactly that – an amount that is more than the entire planet’s GDP! Of course, there was not an actual purchase of that amount, but rather a glitch which caused these accounts to reflect that amount. A New Jersey man discovered this when routinely logging on to his B of A online accounts to check his balances. He first fled to the gas station where he last bought a pack of smokes to inquire on the charge. They had no idea what it was, so only then did he call Bank of America’s customer service, where he was on hold for more than two hours before they were finally able to resolve the problem. Visa responded by saying it was a “temporary programming error” in there systems… that sure is one heck of an error! They claimed they have correct the problem and refunded the overdraft fees associated with these errors.

Do you own a U.S. Airways Dividend credit card? Then you may be asking “Why did my U.S. Airways switch from Visa to MasterCard?” Well, it is very unusual for a financial institution to change from MasterCard to Visa and vice-versa. Historically, you only see this occur during a mergers and acquisitions, when the two companies are affiliated with different payment networks, so they therefore switch one so it’s the same for their entire card portfolio.

This is exactly what we saw with the U.S. Airways Dividend card. Bank of America sold off around two-thirds of the venture to Barclaycard (the American subsidiary of Barclays). It’s highly unusual that B of A will continue to own a small number of the accounts… neither companies would comment as to why.

If you a cardholder of the U.S. Airways Dividend MasterCard, there is no cause for concern. As of now, there doesn’t appear to be any other major changes to the accounts. Reps from Barclays have stated that they will ensure the accounts continue to be reported accurately to the credit bureaus and the length of time your account has been opened will be preserved.

Ad: Want something better? Get 12,000 bonus miles & no annual fee with Discover Miles card

A member on Credit Card forum pointed out the news that there is a new Visa black credit card which has just been released, but is this really nothing more than an imitation of the American Express Centurion card?

The Black Card (yes, that is the official trademarked name of the card) carries a $495 fee. That’s $45 more than the American Express Platinum card.

This black Visa card is made out of carbon graphite. It offers 24-hour concierge (like Visa Signature cards do). It also offers rewards and perks like airport lounge access.

So is it a knockoff? Well, it’s too early to tell, but it appears to be more similar to AmEx Platinum or Bank of America Accolades, rather than the Centurion. The Amex Centurion has a much higher annual fee ($5,000 initiation fee + $2,500 annual fee), tougher requirements for membership. The Visa Black card appears to be a card that more people will have access too.

Credit cards were created over fifty years ago, long before there was such thing as the personal computers, the internet, and of course online shopping. The credit card industry has tried adding security codes and using elaborate fraud detection algorithms, but credit card fraud still thrives everyday. Even though the actual cardholder is never responsible for the costs incurred from fraud, the credit card company is.

Visa is designing a credit card with a built-in random number generator. There would be a small LCD screen on the card which would generate an 8-digit pin number which would be used for one transaction. A new number would have to be generated for the next transaction. Therefore the thief could have your credit card information, but it would be useless without having the pin number. Since the pin number would constantly change from transaction to transaction, it would be virtually impossible for a thief to guess it.

Across the globe people are increasingly turning to the convenience and security of card payments instead of using cash or checks. Visa International is at the forefront of this explosive growth – generating $3 trillion in sales volume and is accepted in more than 150 countries. Visa’s general manager of the Middle East, Kamran Siddiqi, anticipates massive growth in the region.

Saudi Arabia is the most populated country in the Middle East. It already has the highest number of cards and the biggest potential right now. But in smaller countries such as the United Arab Emirates, 1 out of every 2 people has a Visa card already.

Prior to the collapse of Saddam in 2003, credit cards were not available in Iraq. Visa proved they really are “everywhere you want to be” when shortly after they became the first credit card company ever to process card transactions since economic sanctions were imposed on the country.

The cards are being issued by The Trade Bank of Iraq and as of last year there were over 15,000 issued. However credit cards are a new concept in much of the middle east – people there have never had them, nor have they had credit records. This poses a big problem when it comes to issuing a credit card to someone who has no formal credit score. In Iraq, customers are started off with pre-paid Visa cards and eventually the option of credit becomes available. The picture in this article is an actual photo of one of the Visa billboards which can be found in the streets of Baghdad.

Transitioning from cash to card payments is not only easier for the consumers here, but it also boosts bank deposits. This in turn increases the money they have available to loan out. Card payments leave a paper trail, resulting in increased transparency for financial transactions. Not only does this help fight crime, but its efficiency also supports stronger economic performance overall.