New Credit Card Fees Kick in Sunday

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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May 9, 2000
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Another case of insult to injury in these less-than-stellar economic times. Credit card companies will begin collecting what has been called a ‘swipe charge’ or a ‘check out fee’ on Sunday, which the merchant will pass down to the consumer. It’s a relatively small sum which can be avoided altogether with the use of a debit card instead.

By law, merchants intending to pass the cost along will have to post notices at checkout informing consumers of the extra charge. Online merchants will have to post a similar notice to their home page.
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I've avoided using credit cards for a long time now. Especially when it comes to putting gas in my car. Some reason, gas and cash have separate prices. This certainly calls into question to use a credit card to collect points. Anyone smart enough will just pay any transaction asap before they charge you any interest.

This just means the death of credit cards. Good residence too.
 
nickel+and+dime.jpg
 
I really fail to get stuff like this. They want us to use credit and debit cards, then turn around and punish us for doing so? This is the kind of stupid shit that encourages old bags in grocery stores to sit there and take 20 effing minutes to write a damned check in the express lane. They should be charging fees for that crap given that actually requires processing and handling where cards are all done by a computer.
 
Lets see

Step one: Get you addicted to their substance
Step two: Make it easy to use their substance
Step three: Make it so it's hard not to use their substance
Step four: Start charging money for using their substance
Step five: Profit.
 
Oh and hurray for California! However I have noticed over quite a few years gas stations are apparently allowed to charge different prices for cash vs credit.
 
I hate to step on the Fox News-esque paranoia in here, but this ain't happenin'.

1. Everyone who wishes to do so will have to post it at checkout (both real and virtual), driving away business.
2. There are still legal challenges to this, and it hasn't even reached the highest court.
3. Banned in ten states already.
4. Chains who do business in any banned state cannot surcharge anywhere, as well as any merhcnat accepting American Express.

Just because they can doesn't mean they will. Settle down. Anyone who wants to surcharge is signing their own death warrant.
 
Just wait'll it carries over into their much desired "cashless society", every transaction is considered a "swipe", and people don't have a choice in the matter. :eek:
Okay, a bit of sarcasm, but for some reason I wouldn't put it past these asshats to try.
 
That 1.5% - 4% that the CC companies charge retailers is already figured into the price most places. It is also why you see cash discounts on low margin commodity items like fuel, fertilizer, seed, or heavy equipment and the like.
 
A cash discount is a credit surcharge. Many places have been doing this for years.

Move along. Nothing to see.
 
This is a law that did not need to happen. This charge was already included in the cost of things as a cost of doing business. So once again our legislators waste time finding a solution to a problem that does not exist. yay
 
The surcharges are bullshit to begin with whether or not the retail establishment passes them along or not.

There should be a law against the card companies from charging a surcharge to businesses. Why should the card companies be able to charge the retailer and get interest from the masses who don't pay off the charge right away?

I can see some retailers dropping AMeX so they can pass along the visa and MC charges. That 1.5-3% surcharge adds up to some big money for companies.
 
bigddybn said:
A cash discount is a credit surcharge. Many places have been doing this for years.

Move along. Nothing to see.
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doho7744 said:
This is a law that did not need to happen. This charge was already included in the cost of things as a cost of doing business. So once again our legislators waste time finding a solution to a problem that does not exist. yay
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Very true however.... I don't believe they needed to post and tell you there will be a surcharge. Now they will have to, right? Or at least that seems to be the case.

On the one hand, I do like to use my credit card because it's easy. But on the other hand, it has stupid crap like this.

Then again...... on some one else's hand, some merchants is already charging the surcharge regardless of your payment method.
 
How can it possibly cost 3% in the digital age to process a credit card transaction?

This is like the cell phone companies that want to pretend like it really costs them anywhere close to 10 cents to send two bytes of data in a text on their network.

Problem is, between Visa and Mastercard they pretty much have a monopoly and they are too convenient, so these bankers make ridiculous amounts of money. And just as an example, this quarter mastercard's already thick profits jumped a whopping 21%, wowing investors. Yup, gotta love their 3% on $600+ billion in annual purchases on top of the 20% loanshark interest rates your average Joe pays if he doesn't completely pay off the bill at the end of the month.
 
Ashbringer said:
I've avoided using credit cards for a long time now. Especially when it comes to putting gas in my car. Some reason, gas and cash have separate prices. This certainly calls into question to use a credit card to collect points. Anyone smart enough will just pay any transaction asap before they charge you any interest.

This just means the death of credit cards. Good residence too.
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Or you find a gas station that advertises non-cash prices on the road. Not that difficult.
 
article said:
Ten states prohibit credit card surcharges, so if you're making a purchase in any of the following, you won't have to worry about being penalized: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Oklahoma and Texas.
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YeeeeeeeHawwww
 
doho7744 said:
This is a law that did not need to happen. This charge was already included in the cost of things as a cost of doing business. So once again our legislators waste time finding a solution to a problem that does not exist. yay
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+10000
 
Ducman69 said:
How can it possibly cost 3% in the digital age to process a credit card transaction?
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In the same way that it costs $10/month for 200 text messages (or whatever limit it might be)... it doesn't cost that much, however they charge that much because it's a much larger cash cow than charging 5 cents per transaction
 
doho7744 said:
This is a law that did not need to happen. This charge was already included in the cost of things as a cost of doing business. So once again our legislators waste time finding a solution to a problem that does not exist. yay
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You're absolutely right.... except according to the article

Under the terms of a $7.2 billion settlement reached last summer between credit card companies and merchants
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It's not so much a law that was passed, but something that was negotiated. From what I recall it was the credit card company that did not allow them to add a surcharge not any law. The whole having to post a sign near the register bit is simply an existing law that was in effect for any "additional charges", kind of like how soda can/bottles all state "redemption fee" or what not.
 
First they started charging for a fing bags in my area, now credit card swipe. I guess I wont be using credit card's as much.
 
bigddybn said:
A cash discount is a credit surcharge. Many places have been doing this for years.

Move along. Nothing to see.
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There is something to see. They'll be charging me more money.

And they'll be doing it across the board on things they've been able to get by on for decades, so its just a profit grab.
 
Ashbringer said:
I've avoided using credit cards for a long time now. Especially when it comes to putting gas in my car. Some reason, gas and cash have separate prices. This certainly calls into question to use a credit card to collect points. Anyone smart enough will just pay any transaction asap before they charge you any interest.

This just means the death of credit cards. Good residence too.
Click to expand...

Too bad, since you miss out on all the benefits of using credit cards.

All my cards are free, since I always pay the bill in full each month.
I get back hundreds of dollars every year, and get a 30 day float on the money I spend (although with the low interest he bank pays this isn't worth as much as it used to be).
I've even signed up for a couple cards that gave me $200 cash back the 1st time I used them.
The most difficult part is trying to remember which card to use as some of them have different categories during different times of the year for as much as 5% back.
 
Credit cards have laws on them that protect the consumer heavily if there are fraudulent transactions. Debit cards, not so much, hence why the banks are pushing them more, hence why I refuse to have one.

Sadly the only way this BS is going to get stopped is with some government regulation, thou with this paid for congressional situation, I think there is better chance of hell freezing over.
 
Funny that the bank/credit card company can't process my transfer/ransaction on a Sunday, but they can institute new fees on a Sunday.
 
SCSI-Terminator said:
Credit cards have laws on them that protect the consumer heavily if there are fraudulent transactions. Debit cards, not so much, hence why the banks are pushing them more, hence why I refuse to have one.

Sadly the only way this BS is going to get stopped is with some government regulation, thou with this paid for congressional situation, I think there is better chance of hell freezing over.
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Look up "Regulation E". Electronic Fund Transfer Act.

http://www.fdic.gov/regulations/laws/rules/6500-3100.html

Consumers are protected against fraud when it comes to debit card use. Sure, it's a pain in the ass and takes a while but you are still protected by consumer laws. I've personally used this law a couple of time when I was a victim of fraud on my debit card.
 
As already stated above:

1) Businesses ALREADY charge you for using your credit card. That 1.6% to 3.0% or more is already figured into your purchase.

The rule preventing a business from passing on the surcharge they ALREADY pay is to make sure that you, the consumer, never figure out that you are getting raped on both ends by using a card.

Which brings us to point

2) You pay interest when you don't pay off your balance. A LOT of interest. AND the business pays for every swipe of a card. Beyond that, a retail store pays tiered percentage depending on how a customer pays. Swipe the card and sign in person? Lowest fee. Phone in the order and don't give you any matching billing address or zip code? MAXIMUM percentage.

If the business can't charge you to use the card, then they work the price into everything even if you use cash.

Which is lunacy and individuals should have revolted against such stupidity.

Oh and

BTW - Those bonus points everyone loves to earn on cards? Guess what? Businesses pay higher fees on many bonus point cards... YOU PAY TO GET YOUR OWN BONUS POINTS! It's a total racket! The product you buy has the bonus point costs factored in because it's all part of the damn percentage the business already has to pay without telling you how much.

I should know, been in retail for over 15 years.
 
Seems AmEx will not allow additional charges with their agreement for stores that accept them. Guess lll keep using my card without worry.
 
luckily in california, the law says they can't charge a surcharge.


CC companies are shooting themselves in the foot if they allow this.
Free-to-use cc's allow people to spend irresponsibly, and that benefits both the merchant and the bank by increasing revenue and installment fees.

if the cost is passed on to the consumer, people will just stop using CC's
Maybe something good will come of it as people finally decide to spend within their means.

CC's are just a convenience vs carrying loads of smelly cash in your wallet.
Other than that, a lot of people would be ok with going to the ATM to save 3%.

CC companies should pay us to use cc's, since they make a shitload of cash collecting fees from irresponsible spenders who can't pay off their debt.
 
Merchants have always been paying this fee, they just roll it into their cost of business by upmarking goods and services. This is just an excuse for merchants to charge even more and blame it on card processing industry (which I'm not siding with either). I'm more worried if merchants are allowed to start adding more arbitrary fees on top of marked up prices because they can...

Oh there's now a .5% storage fee to pay for the rent I pay on the location....
There's also a .5% electricity fee....
And a .01% paper and printer fee for this receipt I'm about to print for you....
and a 2% employee surcharge fee for my workers that move the product fee.....

I'll just stop buying form places that add this fee without lowering the product's prices. The only way to stop merchants from doing this is to get enough people to stop doing businesses with those that implement it, big or small.
 
nutzo said:
Too bad, since you miss out on all the benefits of using credit cards.

All my cards are free, since I always pay the bill in full each month.
I get back hundreds of dollars every year, and get a 30 day float on the money I spend (although with the low interest he bank pays this isn't worth as much as it used to be).
I've even signed up for a couple cards that gave me $200 cash back the 1st time I used them.
The most difficult part is trying to remember which card to use as some of them have different categories during different times of the year for as much as 5% back.
Click to expand...

Exactly. If you pay the balance off by the end of the billing period it's worth using. I try to put just about everything on my credit card as those points add up fast. With some retailers you can get double/triple the points as well, and for me, every 10k points is $80. Sure, it's not a huge amount of money, but it's still something. More then what you'd get if you paid with cash.

Not to mention the ease of getting your money back in the case of fraudulent activity.
 
Ashbringer said:
I've avoided using credit cards for a long time now. Especially when it comes to putting gas in my car. Some reason, gas and cash have separate prices. This certainly calls into question to use a credit card to collect points. Anyone smart enough will just pay any transaction asap before they charge you any interest.

This just means the death of credit cards. Good residence too.
Click to expand...

Step 1 - Get cash rewards credit card (Chase Freedom, 5% cash back)
Step 2 - Use card everywhere!
Step 3 - Pay off balance at end of month, incur no interest charge!
Step 4 - Cash in rewards every 6-12 months, profit!
Step 5 - Get that sweet, sweet credit score.
 
The surcharge being a percentage of the sale price should be illegal. I mean I know it doesn't really cost anything for CC companies to process charges but it certainly shouldn't vary due to the cost of what is purchased.

If you are in a state that this is illegal in does that prohibit online vendors from charging you or does it have to do with where the goods originate from?
 
Also 4% of your purchase price? WTF? Thank god I live in Florida..
 
NickJames said:
Step 1 - Get cash rewards credit card (Chase Freedom, 5% cash back)
Step 2 - Use card everywhere!
Step 3 - Pay off balance at end of month, incur no interest charge!
Step 4 - Cash in rewards every 6-12 months, profit!
Step 5 - Get that sweet, sweet credit score.
Click to expand...

I do this, I've never paid interest on my card and use the reward part fairly often. I also called Navy Federal and was told I either would not see any extra charge and/or they would eat it. :cool:
 
timta2 said:
Look up "Regulation E". Electronic Fund Transfer Act.

http://www.fdic.gov/regulations/laws/rules/6500-3100.html

Consumers are protected against fraud when it comes to debit card use. Sure, it's a pain in the ass and takes a while but you are still protected by consumer laws. I've personally used this law a couple of time when I was a victim of fraud on my debit card.
Click to expand...

You are liable for up to $500 of unauthorized debit transactions if you don't notify your bank within two-days. If they ran it as credit though, you are not liable at all.
 
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