Hmmm...some interesting stories and comments here. I'm not exactly sure how Epass works but here's some food for thought:
1. Is Epassport really the right medium for B2B transactions considering the amounts involved and one must "load" their account (possibly with a stolen cc)? - wouldn't a bank transfer/cashiers check be better?
2. Let's say the person "loaded" their account with $1000 - Epass gets a pre-auth for the full $1000 which is the available balance at the time - other charges come through before Epass can acquire the money which depletes the available credit on the card - when Epass tries to acquire the $469 they get a decline.
3. Let's say that the "loader" had transfered lots of little payments to other customers and instead of dinging the smaller customers Epass dinged the one account that would cover the $469 NSF. (no bashing here, just information gathering)
4. What info does Epass require from account holders?
5. Is the *fraudulent* Epass account still active?
6. In this context I agree with the "knowing your customers" considering the amount - can't you ask for some sort of ID (e.g., fax drivers license, phone bill, etc.) from the transferer before accepting their Epass payment?
7. I agree on one other thing, you should recieve an email if a transaction is reversed for NSF, chargeback, refund, fraud, dispute, etc. (not bashing here either, as someone said they do send it.)
8. Finally, banks are indeed not loosing money! - They are just trying to figure out how to make more! a la Verified by Visa/MC Secure, Visa/MC regs, PCI Compliance, etc.
