Businesses should follow rules on credit card fees

Recently, I’ve noticed that a lot of the local businesses are imposing a fee when paying with a debit, credit, and even EBT cards. I am a frequent shopper to some of these places and I am getting a little annoyed with having these illegal fees passed on to the customers.

I have expressed my displeasure with this practice to some of the businesses but they have fallen on deaf ears. One business told me to just bring cash next time, and another told me I could eat somewhere else if I didn’t like it.

I would like to let the community know that there are rules when it comes to charging checkout fees, and that these businesses are not following them. We are constantly being reminded to shop local and support our businesses, but my support is quickly draining when they are charging their community illegal processing fees.

All the information I’ve disclosed can easily be found with a quick Google search, and I’ve provided links for those who would like to read more. I have even provided a link for businesses to register with VISA should they decide to legally start charging for credit card processing fees. Below are a few main points in regards to this litigation that I want everyone to be aware of.

You can charge a fee for credit cards, but there are guidelines you have to follow. Some of these include:

· Businesses must register with VISA 30 days prior to charging the fee.

· The fee can only be imposed on credit card transactions, not purchases made with debit cards, prepaid cards, or EBT cards.

· Surcharges are not permitted on debit transactions regardless if a cardholder selects the “credit” or “debit” button.

· The surcharge cannot exceed the amount that the merchant actually pays to accept credit cards.

· The dollar amount of the surcharge must appear on the transaction receipt separately and have a POS Entry Mode code of “05”, “07”, “90”, or “91”.

· You must have disclosure signs that you are imposing a fee on credit card transactions at every Point-of-Entry and at the Point-of-Transaction.

Businesses can register here at this link:

http://usa.visa.com/merchants/merchant-support/merchant-surcharging.jsp?ep=v_sym_merchantsurcharging

Sample Disclosure Signage available here:

http://usa.visa.com/download/merchants/sample-surcharge-disclosure-signage.pdf

More detailed Regulations provided here:

http://usa.visa.com/download/merchants/operating-regulations-merchant-litigation-settlement.pdf

Surcharging Q&A

http://usa.visa.com/download/merchants/surcharging-faq-by-merchants.pdf

Catrien Slater