Gaming the exam expiration date

BillHoo

I had thought that the expiration on my exam date would have been 120 days from the end of the SANS course. This would have placed me around mid-May.

I just looked at my SANS portal and see that the expiration is actually end of June! Woohoo! more time to study!

Looking at the SANS course website, the verbage is actually:

• The GCIH Exam may be scheduled anytime within a 120 day window once a candidate has paid for the examination attempt

The only reason I can think of for having the extra time is that I paid with American Express and they will not pay the vendor until I pay my Amex bill (which I do dutifully at the end of each month!)

So my theory is if you want to extend the time you have to study after taking the SANS course without major $$ penalty, pay with Amex and hold off a while on paying the credit card bill!

What do ya'll think of that?

Unfortunately, I do not plan on taking another SANS Course/GIAC exam for another couple years to test my theory out. Nor would I want to mess with my credit score.

TechGromit

My credit card was charged March 1st for my GCIH certification attempt. SANS course ended March 4th, I was told exam materials would be available a week after the course was over, which would have been March 11th. The first time I accessed the Course study MP3's was March 13th, My certification attempt expires on July 12th. It's pretty much exactly 120 days from when the MP3 / Practice tests were made available to me.

BillHoo wrote: »

The only reason I can think of for having the extra time is that I paid with American Express and they will not pay the vendor until I pay my Amex bill (which I do dutifully at the end of each month!)

I highly doubt that, what if you don't pay, does that mean the vendor takes the loss? One of the reasons vendors accept credit cards is they are pretty much guaranteed that they will get paid, even if the credit card is reported stolen. It's the credit card company that gets stiffed for non-payment or stolen credit cards, not the vendors. There are exceptions to this rule, for example the thousands of credit cards that were stolen in the Target credit card breach, the card issuers sued to be made whole for any fraudulent charges made with those stolen credit cards, but generally Visa and Mastercard agreements contracts generally put the burden of fraud reimbursement onto the bank. Debit cards are a little different, 60% of the time the banks are on the hook for losses, with other 40% the merchant takes the loss. Generally if the merchant takes steps to minimize fraud, the credit card issuer will take the fraud losses. For example last time I ordered a computer from the internet, the internet merchant asked for my phone number and called me to verify I made the purchase. I guess computers and computer parts is one of the items thieves target when using stolen credit cards.

BillHoo

I've heard from many vendors (small business owners) that they do not take American Express because Amex will not pay them until I pay Amex first. So they get stuck, trying to balance their books until Amex pays them. My local auto shop recently put out a "No American Express" policy because of this. (though they accepted mine because I was a longterm customer who has not stiffed them).

Some folks don't pay their credit card bills on time. Amex does not claim to be a credit card. They are a charge card for convenience of using the card to pay a vendor and paying the bill at the end of the month.

I just threw this out to see if anyone wants to play around with it. I thought it strange that my exam expiration was a bit longer than 120 days after I put the charge on my card.

SANS says the clock starts ticking from the time they get paid. My only guess is that Amex took a bit longer to pay SANS.

TechGromit

BillHoo wrote: »

I've heard from many vendors (small business owners) that they do not take American Express because Amex will not pay them until I pay Amex first. So they get stuck, trying to balance their books until Amex pays them.

Again, I highly Doubt this. American Express has the highest fees for merchants of any of the credit card companies, makes me wonder why anyone accepts them at all. According to the FAQ you can access with this link:

https://www209.americanexpress.com/merchant/services/en_US/merchant-regulations

Merchants are paid under a one, three, fifteen or 30 day plans. I suspect the smaller merchants have to wait longer for payment, there are probably incentives of lower fees for waiting longer for payment, but I can't say for sure because the FAQ isn't the actual American Express Merchant contract. Also while I try to avoid carrying a balance, I currently have a $1,500 balance on my American Express card due from a vacation I took with my Wife. Are you suggesting the merchants have to wait for payment until I get around to paying off the balance?

BillHoo

TechGromit wrote: »

Again, I highly Doubt this. American Express has the highest fees for merchants of any of the credit card companies, makes me wonder why anyone accepts them at all. According to the FAQ you can access with this link:

https://www209.americanexpress.com/merchant/services/en_US/merchant-regulations

Merchants are paid under a one, three, fifteen or 30 day plans. I suspect the smaller merchants have to wait longer for payment, there are probably incentives of lower fees for waiting longer for payment, but I can't say for sure because the FAQ isn't the actual American Express Merchant contract. Also while I try to avoid carrying a balance, I currently have a $1,500 balance on my American Express card due from a vacation I took with my Wife. Are you suggesting the merchants have to wait for payment until I get around to paying off the balance?

Yes. That is exactly what I am suggesting, because that is what vendors have told me. I just had a bunch of work done on my car and as I was paying, I saw the mechanic had a new sign stating they would no longer accept AMEX. I apologized to him as I was about to put away my card, but he said I've been a reliable customer and he would make the exception for me stating he does not get paid until I pay AMEX. I've heard this from other small businesses as well.

Maybe they have different plans depending on the size of the business?

cyberguypr

Per AmEx's Merchant Reference Guide :

Settlements:
We offer a variety of different payment plans. Merchants may choose one of the
following plans:
-Three day payment plan
-Fifteen day payment plan
-Thirty day payment plan

I see nothing in that document suggesting delayed payment until the customer pays the bill.

TechGromit

BillHoo wrote: »

... the mechanic had a new sign stating they would no longer accept AMEX. I apologized to him as I was about to put away my card, but he said I've been a reliable customer and he would make the exception for me stating he does not get paid until I pay AMEX.

If true this would be a serious violation of his AMEX credit card contract. Either he accepts AMEX for all customers or he doesn't have a contract with AMEX and doesn't take them. He can't accept AMEX from some customers and not others. It would be like accepting credit cards from one race of people and rejecting them from another race because they look untrustworthy and it's probably a stolen credit card.

While he's perfectly within his right to demand cash for services rendered, or only accept Visa but not Mastercard or AMEX, the policy has to be applied uniformly, demanding cash from some people, AMEX from another and Chickens from a 3rd is discriminatory. He can allow everyone to pay with any of the three methods, but not dictate Bob can only pay with Chickens and everyone else with cash.