re credit cards?

Question

Are retailers , resteraurants etc. allowed by credit card company's to charge a premium when paying by credit card. Whats the law on this.

Answer 1

Again, I wish to state that I am Canadaian and the laws here may differ than that in other countries but this is what I know. If a store, say, Wal-Mart charges a 2% service charge on ALL CARDS (Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express, etc.) and applies charges across the board, nothing prevents them from doing so. However, if they accept all cards and charge fees on some but not others, then that is against merchant agreements and is called MERCHANT SUPPRESSION. My advice to you is to call your credit card company, ask to speak to their merchant services team, and explain what happened to cuase you to have asked this question.

Answer 2

The law has nothing to say about this. However the merchant agreement between the retailer and MasterCard / Visa prohibits this. (Discover doesn't have a problem with it, last I read).

The problem for you as a consumer is that you don't really have a lot to say about an agreement between Mastercard / Visa and the retailer. There are other rules like that that are frequently not enforced too ... for example they aren't supposed to ask you for ID if your card is signed on the back unless there is some other reason to ask for ID (like age verification to buy liquor/tobacco products). And they aren't supposed to have credit card minimums (those signs that say Credit Card $10 minimum purchase)... also forbidden in the merchant agreement.

Usually enforcement of these provisions is lax, but you could try complaining to Visa or MasterCard about the merchant.

Answer 3

i expect that they can charge a premium by law... after all, the credit card companies charge restaurants and retailers a fee (i think it is around 2% of the charge) to accept a charge. it only seems reasonable to allow the companies that accept credit cards to bill customers for the difference.