Ubl Dispute: Fill & Download for Free

There is inherently nothing "scary" about using a credit card online. There are various theories over the years that one can read as to why credit card and/or debit card transactions online, are limited. This, by the way is true across South Asia.First and foremost, it is education. Many credit/debit card holders have no idea about the rights they have/do-not-have about CNP (Card Not Present) transactions and/or MOTO (Mail Order/Telephone Order) transactions.This is equally stressed by the front line customer support at banks, who also have limited or periphery knowledge on slightly complex questions. For example if you were to call your credit card bank in Pakistan and ask why the AVS (Address Verification System) is not working for Pakistani cards abroad, they would be hard pressed for an answer.Equally, you can ask them literally 100s of other questions and the answers are not easily forthcoming. What is the guaranteed cycle (days) upon which a chargeback can be filed? What is Interchange fees I would be charged if I used my credit card for cash advance? If I would like to dispute an international charge (the charge was made, but the merchant says it was not made), what is the procedure? If you want the transaction number for the charge you made good luck in getting that, most CS reps don't even have access to such basic data, If an erroneous charge occurs, its removal is 15 days minimum - Why if ask? then answers will be limited (at best), etc.The second issue is the number of merchants in Pakistan or otherwise who are willing to accept credit cards from Pakistan. UBL's Wiz (Pre-paid Debit Card) for example, won't run on Apple (mixed results), Amazon, GoDaddy, Etsy, AWS, Rackspace, Barnes & Noble, and many other stores.The same problem exists with Credit Cards. Most do not give an issue, but then again, fraudulent usage and/or abuse of the credit card is very common in Pakistan.We (as the end-users) just do not have the confidence in the credit/debit card systems in Pakistan. We see too much pain and effort in trying to have issues resolved when it comes to banks.On the risk and fraud management side, banks are so overly stringent, that for many transactions, you have to answer CBC (Call-Back-Confirmation) calls, and at times have to have your credit/debit card activated for an online transaction.Most banks in Pakistan have a limit as to how much you can charge with a merchant in any given month. For example Standard Chartered Bank says, with a single merchant in any 15 days period, you cannot charge more than US$ 1,500 to that merchant's account.All these risk/fraud rule-sets irks a few and for most across the board, it reduces the bank's exposure to fraud. Fair you say? Yes, say the bank. No says a person like myself who uses their card extensively online.Then there is the issue of interest. Not online Interest as a form of additional charge the merchant must bear (which merchants love to pass on to consumers), but also the issue of Riba based transactions. With more and more people opting for Islamic banking and/or transactions without interest, credit cards are all the evil for them, cash on delivery makes sense even to a layman.COD vs Credit Card transactions (for Pakistani market), has advantages for the merchant. The merchant gets paid there and then on COD method. With the credit card (acquiring) model, the payout can be as little as 2 days to as high as 15 days (depending on the risk of the merchant).Online shopping can be made very secure, safe and easy to use with products like Verified by Visa or Secure by Mastercard. Even the evolution of one-time virtual cards (VCT - Virtual Card Technology) which essentially gives you disposable pre-paid numbers is also catching up fast.Customers want absolute safety of using their credit card online. Banks was absolute safety of mitigating fraud/risk that they are underwriting, and merchants want a hassle-free system of getting paid. The balance of all three variables is not easy.Until and unless there is mass adoption of plastic instruments for online payments, these issues will exist. The total number of merchants online in Pakistan is dismal (about 650 or so +/- 25 merchants). When we have say, 10,000+ merchants online, you will see online payments will be synonymous with say mobile top-ups and scratch cards. Its just a matter of time.

It’s fascinating about how people react (especially the Trump supporters) by talking about media bias, or how Democrats are haters, or maybe about racism. I don’t see those answers as being a reply to the OP’s question.The OP is asking about people who worked with Obama and people who worked with Trump. Not the media. Not their supporters. Not political parties. Why do so many Obama staff say he was so smart. Why do so many Trump staff say he’s dumb. That’s the issue here.I’d argue that Obama was generally regarded by the people he worked with as being smart, even those who disagreed with his policies. SecDef Bob Gates was very critical of Obama in his recent book, criticizing a number of his policies and implementation. But Gates also complimented Obama on his intelligence, said he asked smart questions. I personally talked to two people in the IC who gave security briefings to Obama. They said he was very thoughtful, usually asked to read material first before any presentation, would then have some very challenging questions (not: “how the hell could you conclude that?”—not that kind of challenge. But more like “what should our confidence level be in that source and why do you conclude that?” Or “how has this analysis about this issue changed over time and what would you account for that change?”) Obama was pretty systematic and organized in how he approached decisions. Biden was always the last voice (as they’d agreed to before he accepted the VP role) but Obama did what he personally concluded was best. For instance, a number of key people (like his SecDef and I believe his Chief of Staff did not recommend sending in people to take down UBL). And Obama had no problem surrounding himself with people who disagreed with him or who weren't allies. HRC was shocked that he asked her to be VP. Mueller and Gates were Republicans and a Bush appointees but Obama felt that in a time of 2 wars, it made sense to have continuity on his national security team. The sense I got was that Obama listened a lot. Allowed diverse opinions. Prepared and read. Encouraged having smart people on his team, including those who disagreed with him. And followed a systematic process.Whether you agree with them or not, a number of people (including Mattis, McMaster, Bolton, Kelly, Pence, and Tillerson) have been documented on saying things about Trump like “grade-schooler” or “idiot” or “fool.” I don’t think this has anything to do with political experience. This is about a guy who skips most of his security briefings and has walked out of a couple of them because he got bored. This about a guy who—after he was being briefed on possible sanctions against Russia for their interference in the 2016 elections and one sanction involved closing down a Russian annex in New York, his first response was “wow—that’s property is very valuable.” Now maybe you want to argue that Trump appointed some terrible choices for senior aides or cabinet positions. But it’s undeniable that most of his senior people have said derogatory things about him. I don’t mean disagree with a policy or have a dispute about values. I mean accused him of being stupid or uninformed. As a general rule, Trump spends a lot of time watching TV. He doesn’t read. He loses interest in briefings or complex discussions. Last of all, Trump runs a chaotic ship. His team is understaffed. Direction isn’t clear. Priorities change. A tweet from the President and you’re going in a different direction. And some tweets by Trump just aren’t very defensible. So whether Trump is smart or not, that kind of environment does not engender staff loyalty and support—and encourages a lot of infighting and backstabbing and insults.Now I suspect some people are going to reply that I’m an Obama worshipper or a Trump hater. I’m not saying anything about their policy merits or who I like or don’t like. I’m just replying to the OP’s question about why people who work next to Obama praise his intelligence and demeanor and those who work next to Trump are often derogatory about him. You can disagree or agree with what I’ve written. But there are plenty of cases of former staff and cabinet members saying exactly what I’ve posted.