It looks like it’s becoming quite popular for stores to charge a fee if you want to give them your money via credit card. This seems crazy but last summer there was an antitrust settlement between merchants and Visa, MasterCard, and big banks about credit card interchange fees. These are the swipe fees merchants pay to the networks to process your payment when you buy something. Merchants now have the legal right to add a check out fee when you use a credit card to pay for a purchase. These fees could start showing their ugly heads around January 27th.
Luckily stores can’t sneak in the fee without telling you up front. They have to disclose that you pay more for using a credit card. Next time you go shopping, check around for notifications at the entrance or register. When buying online the checkout fee can be disclosed on the homepage of the business. Merchants can add a surcharge of up to 4%. WHAT!?
Hopefully we can band together and discourage stores from charging these fees. They are, indeed, a choice, not a requirement. So make sure that when you’re shopping around for the best deal, that you include whether or not you’d end up paying the checkout fee or not. If you’re spending $200 on a purchase you could end up being charged $8 just for the “privilege” of using your card.
Honestly I think it will be easier, and less costly, to start carrying around some cash. If you spend an extra dollar at each store you visit that really starts to add up.
There is some good news however
The credit card checkout fee is actually banned in these 10 states: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Oklahoma, and Texas.
If you’re not in one of these states, keep an eye out for this fee when you buy something. And if you’re faced with a checkout fee, simply vote with your wallet. Spend your money with a vendor who isn’t charging this fee.
And keep in mind that, according to Consumer Action, checkout fees are only allowed for credit cards and charge cards. You can not be asked to pay a checkout fee for using a debit card.
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