Sometimes stores will charge me $0.25 or $0.50 for me to use my credit card. Some places do this only when my purchase is below a certain amount (under $5.00 and they charge you an additional $0.50), but some places do it for all credit card transactions.
What are the laws around this? I thought that it wasn't legal for businesses to charge me the transaction fee that they have to pay for accepting charge cards? I thought that they are required to build these charges into their prices, but that they couldn't just force me to pay them directly.
2007-09-11 13:38:22 · 4 answers · asked by heyotwell 1 in Business & Finance ➔ Credit
It's against the store's credit card merchant agreement to charge fees for credit card use but it's not against the law. It violates the credit card merchant agreement to impose a minimum amount for credit card acceptance and to impose a surcharge on transactions.
This doesn't apply to ATM card transactions that use a PIN. Merchants can charge you a fee for those.
Although merchants cannot surcharge for a credit transaction, they can offer a discount for using cash. If you really want to file a complaint for these companies that are charging you, call Visa or Mastercard, not the police.
2007-09-11 14:35:12 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
They can. It costs them money for a credit card transaction. On a large purchase, they can absorb it, but on a small purchase, it could wipe out any profit they'd make on the transaction.
They could jack up their prices and give a discount for cash.
2007-09-11 13:45:57 · answer #2 · answered by TedEx 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Yes they can. Most do not absorb the fee. They just charge everybody for it by raising their prices so you pay it whether you use a card or not.
2007-09-11 13:47:00 · answer #3 · answered by Charles C 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Yes they can, they pay a fee to take your card.
Most absorb the cost as a part of doing business
2007-09-11 13:42:59 · answer #4 · answered by smars442002 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋