History

In the early days, it was extremely expensive to obtain a merchant account to accept credit cards for a BBS. The great majority of users paid via cash, check, or money order. So, when a user ran out of credits, they were out of luck until the check arrived, the Sysop cashed it, and it cleared. This could be well over a week, which was a lot of time to be away from your favorite system (and a lot more time than Sysops wanted their paying users to have to wait!)

Credit Accounts aimed to be a stop-gap to bridge the expiration time and the check clearing time.

Credit Accounts was sold until the Galacticomm acquisition.

Utility Information

Most system operators were running The Major BBS with the intention of paying expenses, expanding, and even making a profit. With that in mind, it was critical to allow a user an easy method of obtaining credits... and almost all of them were inconvenienced by the 2-5 day wait of the postal service. A Sysop could support VISA and MasterCard, but that was a substantial expense and hassle, when all that was needed was a basic "loan" method for paying users. Credit Accounts provided that, allowing users to "apply" (which sends E-Mail to Sysop with the necessary information for validation) and once approved, purchase credits in advance. The 2-5 day wait for the check to arrive does not affect them, and they are encouraged to buy more time. Of course, the Sysop should only have extended this service to their serious, paying users whom were validated by voice telephone, and even then, only given limits of about $5 to tide them over until their check arrives. Complete Sysop support allowed Sysops to view credit accounts, quick view all limits/debts, modify or delete credit accounts, pay back debts when money was received, and automatic notification to users in E-Mail when they were approved or their limit is changed. Also, users were reminded of any outstanding debts each time they logged in to the system.