Tobold's Blog
Saturday, May 05, 2007
 
Put a Tauren on your credit card

Adding to the long list of things that the world doesn't need, Blizzard is now offering a WoW Visa card. Besides the usual evil trick of "introductory" 0% APR, which then turns into a 14% APR, 24% cash advance, 32% penalty rate, the card offers a host of other hidden fees. "No annual fee", but a $1.75 "finance charge" every month. Et cetera, et cetera. Same sort of customer gouging offer that every American bank swamps its clients with. Not available in Europe, because these terms would be considered predatory lending over here.

But hey, you get %1 of your purchases as WoW gametime, so you "just" need to spend $18,000 a year with this credit card to play WoW for free. And you'll need to learn to live with the strange stares when you hand the waiter a card with an axe-wielding cow or rotting undead on it.
Comments:
14% is considered predatory lending in Europe?

Bad deals are to be found everywhere.

What range of APR does a European bank charge a customer with average credit?
 
14% would be a normal rate. It's the 32% penalty rate and the hidden fees that wouldn't be allowed.
 
This should really be a joke. I think the only person who wouldn't actually use it, but would just want the card w/ a wow picture on it. There are much better offers out there that give you cash back thats more then wow play time. I think this prooves how much buisness blizzard is, rather then an entertainment buisness.
 
LOL That's really funny! So you have to pay $1.75 even if you don't use the card? I never heard of that one before. Really tricksy.
 
One credit card company here in the U.S. used to offer credit cards to people who had no or horrible credit. You'd only have a $500 limit and the company charged so many fees just to open your account that you'd owe close to $400 from Day 1.
 
@trinity:

and $1.75 differs from an annual fee how?
 
So it wasn't just a figure of speech after all -- WOW actually is a licence to print money.
 
I even get strange looks when I give the cashier my polar bear discover card.
Is it even legal to charge the $1.75 even you dont use the card??
 
"No annual fee", but a $1.75 "finance charge" every month.

If I read things correctly, that's a minimum $1.75 if you get a finance charge, which you don't if you pay your bill in full on time. Which you should.

I don't think I'm going to get it, but I've considered picking up the card just to make one purchase to get the free month and then cut up the card and never use it again.
 
According to my reading of the terms, it's not that you have to pay $1.75 every month even if you don't use the card, it's that $1.75 is the lowest possible finance charge if there is a finance charge. So if you pay the card in full every month, no charge.
 
The Terms & Conditions are written very poorly.

Minimum Finance Charge - $1.75 (any billing cycle a finance charge is imposed).
Very poor engrish, indeed. A "where" could be inserted between "cycle" and "a" and this sentence's meaning would be a lot clearer.

Further down, written a little more clearly, is the following:
All credit terms, including minimum finance charges, will apply in each billing cycle including the first billing cycle.

A billing cycle is a billing cycle regardless of whether or not you have an outstanding balance. When in doubt assume the Credit Card companies are complete bastards, and that all ambiguous terms will benefit them, not the customer. You will be charged a minimum finance charge of $1.75 in each billing cycle.

This is not an annual fee, because it's not charged annually, it's charged monthly. Yes, Credit Card companies are sneaky bastards like that. This is what's known in the legal world (also populated by sneaky bastards) as a technicality or a loophole. It's not an annual fee, it's a monthly fee, and technically it's not a monthly fee either, it's a billing cycle fee. Sneaky bastards.
 
Yea, but the big question is:
Do I get a discount if I purchase WoW gold with it?

/runs
 
I'll probably get one just for the fun of it.
Not to mention that an offer of free WoW is rather appealing. And $18,000 a year may sound like a lot, but when one can purchase just about anything on credit (things ranging from fast food and Ebay purchases to college tuition and used cars, you name it), that's actually not to hard to achieve. One just needs to be sure to pay off every month, and WoW is free.
The more I think about it, the more I love it -- free entertainment!

I've already proved the concept; I actually already have a very similar card from a clothing company that generates significant $$$ in discount coupons every year. Since there are certain items that I only buy from that company, its money back in my pocket just for running my money through the VISA card.
 
It's still unclear to me whether they are sneaky bastards as Capn John says by imposing a minimum of $1.75 per month, or whether they behave like most American credit card companies by waiving the finance charge in months in which you pay the full balance.

Either way, I'm staying with my Citi rewards card which pays back 1% in cash, and 2% on groceries/drugstore/gas purchases. The coolness of the WoW credit card isn't enough to offset its relative lack of rewards.
 
I am waiting for them to offer underwear with WoW themes. That would be cool.
 
You know, if they actually had some cool pictures, perhaps of a human paladin, I might consider it. The terms are obviously crazy. I think they're targetting similar to Capital One. They want poor college students who will rack up debt and owe them a lot. Also, I would guess you wouldn't get a very big credit line ($5k tops???) so the likelihood that you'd be able to spend $18k on the card of the course of the year might be impacted.
 
is it some good offer or just another way to eat my heard earned money!!
 
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