This is when good friends come in handy. Tell them the story and they'll take it upon themselves to "lose" the card for you. Plausible deniability ftw! It's like outsourcing unethical behavior.
I had a friend work for Longs a while back before it was CVS, and he wanted to go back to the same store since he missed his staff (for his community APPE). It magically turned into a CVS so when the question came up "have you ever worked for the company you are requesting?" he said no. Technically he was right since it is a CVS now.
I have no idea why I just typed that, but he was technically right but violated the "spirit" of the question, and he conveniently outsourced any ethical qualms to the acquisition of the company.
Unless he actually worked for CVS, he is answering in good faith. The building is not the company even if they are performing the same thing under a different name.
I would use the analogy of Income Tax Avoidance versus Income Tax Evasion.
Both reduce your tax burden. One is illegal, the other is not. The legal steps rely on ethical behavior and can become Evasion if unethical.
Evasion is hiding income to avoid paying taxes on it. (Not reporting cash transactions/ hoarding , moving cash to offshore accounts, etc.).
Avoidance are deductions, charitable contributions, investment losses, etc. Make it illegal through a slip of the pencil, add a zero here, exaggerate your contributions, etc (lying).
Lying
thumbdown) about losing your debit card to avoid a charge against it is not ethical. Putting a stop on a check to avoid a charge is not ethical.
The schools requiring a cash commitment in advance is ok. Not cashing a check or not charging against an account can really cause an unneccesary financial burden on the student. This is irresponsible behavior by an institution. Some people have a difficult enough time keeping their balances at what they consider an acceptable level. Cash the check and worry about the potential drop out if/when it occurs.
If you are going to change schools after submitting a deposit, then Man-Up (non-gender specific) and call the school to tell them that you have reconsidered and will be withdrawing your acceptance. When you accepted you agreed that the deposit you sent was non-refundable (a portion of the deposit is an administration fee, the balance would be applied to your tuition for the year). At worst, you get nothing back, it was "non-refundable", at best you get the whole deposit returned (Bonus
).
I am in the boat that I have sent in a deposit for one school, and I am waiting to see if I am accepted to the "better school / 1st choice". I am prepared to lose the $700 deposit that I sent in for school 2. Do I hope that I get back some of the money? Absolutely. I am not counting on it. I did this in part because the school required a fairly quick commitment. I also did this because it was one of the schools I would like to attend as well as it held a seat for me to start August of this year. I am looking at this deposit as insurance.