Can a buisiness charge a fee for any credit card transaction?

Question

I live in San Francisco. In my old hood the corner store charged you for credit/debit purchases under a certain amount. My new corner store charges 50cents for any and all card transactions. Is that legal?

Answer 1

Actually, they are in violation of their merchant agreement with the credit card companies. You could call the Visa or MasterCard 800 number and turn them in. The store might lose the privilege of accepting credit cards.

However, you would not get a refund of the surcharge.

Answer 2

No, they can not charge you extra for a credit card. They can offer a cash discount though, which amounts to just about the same thing, but how it is worded is a critical difference.

from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_card

In the United States, until 1984 federal law prohibited surcharges on card transactions. Although the federal Truth in Lending Act provisions that prohibited surcharges expired that year, a number of states have since enacted laws that continue to outlaw the practice; California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Kansas, Massachusetts, Maine, New York, Oklahoma, and Texas have laws against surcharges. Regardless of what state one resides in or purchases a product, however, both Visa and MasterCard have publicly stated that surcharges on credit card transactions are against the rules. [15]

So it appears it violates the credit card company rules and the law in CA.

Answer 3

Yes, it is legal. The business does not have to accept credit card transactions - only "LEGAL TENDER." Legal tender is defined as cash (paper money + coins).

If they accept credit cards, they are doing so as a benefit to you. The reason they charge extra is because there are costs the business needs to pay companies like Mastercard & Visa to process the transactions.

Answer 4

Yes it is legal because they have to pay a fee for every transaction that is made using a credit card. If you don't spend at least a certain amount of money then they lose money on your transaction.

Answer 5

Some cards (banks) charge a fee, others do not. You can complain to the company that you think it is unreasonable but in future, you need to check and ask them before you travel. If you can dig out old statements, you can challenge them to produce the notification of a new charge, otherwise you should not have to pay

Answer 6

Actually, one is not legal, one technically is.

Merchants accepting Visa, Discover or MasterCard credit or debit cards are not allowed to set a minimum amount for using the card; that is a violation of the merchant agreement.

However, there is no federal regulation that prohibits charging a service fee to use a card. It's specific to each company's merchant agreement whether or not this is allowed. (Most do not allow it.)

Answer 7

yessir.. it is.. it is called freedom of enterprise.. it is found in the bill of rights.. they can charge you ten bucks if they want.. but 50 cents..sounds pretty cheap.. pay it and go on.. the reason they charge the fee is probably because of two things.. one..they have to wait on the money for a couple of days.. and two.. they must pay a 1 to 3 percent fee for the processing by the card company.. if you buy ten dollars worth.. it cost the store.. 30 cents for the transaction and they have to wait for two or three days to get their money.. if their margin of profit is 20 percent.. then they are basically losing money by accomodating you.. yes it is legal and sometimes necessary for the retailer..

Answer 8

Yes they can but only after advising you in writing that it will occur on or after a certain date. Banks can do exactly the same............It sucks !!
It sounds like your corner store itrying to recoup the fees they have to pay on transactions. There should be a minimum purchase limit after which the fee does not apply.

Answer 9

Yes it is completely legal. Many governments do the same thing.

Answer 10

Some stores automatically figure this into the markup price , and most peole don't even know about it.