Credit Card Checkout Fees start in New Jersey. Coming to a place near you soon?

reply to post by FortAnthem


YEAH LET YOURSELF THINK IT DOESN'T APPLY TO DEBIT CARDS but most of them seem to have a mastercard or visa logo and most convient store treat them as credit cards . in my part of nc every time you use a debit card to make purchases retailers make you buy a minimum of 5 dollars woth of stuff because of fees and if you get gas they charge you the same higher rate as a credit card even if you hit debit on the pump.

This kind of pisses me off, I'm not annoyed at the retailers, but the credit card companies.

I am one of those people that uses credit for everything, I have a perks card (I get points for purchasing stuff on credit) and it has a 600$ limit which I never raise. I literally buy every possible thing I can on this card and I usually make 2-3 payments a month on it, not just the monthly minimum and I have gotten 2 week long trips to camen islands and la playa for free doing this by cashing in the points I earned.

I will not continue doing it if I start incurring an additional 4% on every purchase I make, I can see how the way current points cards etc work hurt retailers by encouraging me to make my 2$ purchase from a corner store on a credit card and its a good thing it's changing as I own a retail shop myself I understand but it does bum me out a bit.

The first credit card surcharge I see on a receipt will be the end of that card lol.

If that happens in my state, I'll stop using my credit cards.

I think that this will backfire on the businesses that decide to charge people for the privilege of using a credit card.

If I ever see that, most likely I won't frequent that store any longer.

reply to post by FortAnthem


Got my first taste of whatever is happening with debit/credit cards:
Last week I bought a few things at the store and used my bank debit/credit card, the guy didn't add in my bottled soda and I told him I need to pay for this too - I went to hand him my card, he said just take it because it will cost me more to run your card again than the price of the soda. $1.39

reply to post by vind21


From what I've read, the fee they charge the merchants pays for all those perks you get from using their cards. If they want to offer perks to encourage people to go further into debt, they should pay for it out of their own money, not charge the merchants extra.

It's legal to do that anywhere in the country now.

I run a service company. Many invoices I hand out are for $2000 of more. If my customer pays with a credit card, when I process the transaction through the bank, the bank charges me what they call a discount rate. Usually it's about 3% of the total invoice. That is often $60 to $80 per invoice just to process the transaction.

You may not like pating it, but I don't like paying it either. That's why if someone pays cash I can charge them less.

So stop using credit cards lol cash works just as good and no interest fees . wow imagine that concept paying for things with money we have instead of paying interest on a bigmac with money we don't have . Their bottom line is profit and growth having the same profit as last year don't cut it , growth is from how much they can keep nickle and dime their customers . Sadly the merchant is the one who has to foot this bill , isn't right . people wanna complain they can just complain to the their credit cards companies for being to greedy . Or blame themselves for being foolish enough to by crap on their credit cards .

reply to post by elevatedone
You know what, if people knew which retailers actually end up instituting this fee (if they ever do), folks could protest like this.... Load up your carts as full as you can with merchandise from all over the store.... get in line .... as about the fee and then leave with the full carriages in place. Now if everyone did that on a particular day, and no actual sales were made, I think a statement might be heard by management.....

Originally posted by Trueman
I am in New Jersey and that pi$$ me off. I hope one day I have the chance to buy a house with cash, pretty sure they will come up with something else.

Will they let you now?
I tried to pay cash for a car once years back. Negotiated the price and trade in amount. When they told me to go see the finance guy and I told them I was paying cash, the canceled the deal. They said they didnt make enough unless it was financed.

reply to post by FortAnthem


I apologize if I'm just reiterating what's been said, but only read the OP so far. Anyhow, its not just credit cards, its "any card", meaning debit cards as well. I'm guessing there's a lot more debit transactions than credit these days. In the eyes of the processors, its all the same. Most cards charge between 3-5% on every transaction. As a business, that's a hefty price to pay for someone to slow down getting money into your account by 2-5 days.

As a business owner, my pricing already has card fees built into it. In an average month, my margin is about 10% it bothers the hell out of me that these card processors, whose only value-add is that people don't have to carry cash, are essentially taxing nearly every transaction in the economy by an average of 4%.

The commercials where the person paying in cash takes longer than the person paying with a card are a total joke. It takes more time to run that card transaction, if anything. They just want people to feel stupid and outdated if they use cash.

Personally, I use a credit card or card through PayPal for online purchases, and I pay cash for everything else but my utilities and mortgage payment. I do so because it is much safer to carry cash than cards (far more Identity/card number thefts than muggings), and, I'm helping the business owners out, while not contributing to these nonsense card companies.

Imagine if that 4% on practically every transaction in the economy was taken from the cash-flow slowdown card processors and put into the actual economy instead. Purchasing power would increase by 4% immediately. Imagine the impact on the economy if everybody was given a 4% raise, across the board. While it would be a one-shot boost, if everyone dumped cards, at least for retail purchases, the economic boost, and the domino effect would be quite sizable.

All I can do is my own personal protest, and offer freebies/discounts to my cash-paying customers. Hopefully more will do the same.

This fee doesn't apply to purchases made using debit cards. And it will still be illegal to charge the new fee in 10 states, including New York, California and Texas. To those from other states, be ready to vote with your wallet. (snip)




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