Using credit cards might soon cost you
Besides the convenience, one of the great things about using a credit card to make a purchase has been that it doesn’t cost the consumer anything extra to use it.
Same as cash, in essence.
Now, it seems, that’s about to change.
Visa and MasterCard, which have prevented retailers from imposing surcharges on consumers who use their cards, may soon drop the ban in order to end ongoing litigation that the retailers brought against them and banks.
Merchants have to pay the card networks when customers use plastic, and they want to be able to offset those costs by charging consumers.
According to The Wall Street Journal, settlement talks have been going on and it’s expected that there could be an agreement before a trial that’s scheduled to start this fall. One part of a deal could be elimination of the surcharge ban.
Kroger, Payless, Safeway and several trade groups are among those who’ve brought the suits.
The attorneys involved aren’t talking.
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22 comments Add your comment
BigDawg
July 10th, 2012
9:40 am
More costs but not better wages. The “new normal” since B.O. took over!
Marie
July 10th, 2012
10:11 am
BigDawg, seriously?! Next you will be blaming Obama for fleas biting your dog. I sure as heck hope Romney wins in November so that progressives can sabotage his presidency the same way so-called conservatives have sabotaged Obama’s.Yep, it will be a lot of fun to have the shoe on the other foot. Of course I will be moving to Canada because Romney is going to revert this country right back into the same policies that created the financial mess in the first place.
dc
July 10th, 2012
10:51 am
makes sense…..should charge more if it costs the retailer more. might bring “cash’ back into vogue…
dc
July 10th, 2012
11:01 am
wouldn’t surprise me though if the fed govt steps in….if folks start using cash, they will have a much harder time with IRS audits, and other ways of figuring out what people are doing with their money.
g2
July 10th, 2012
11:28 am
paying for things like dinner on credit are the new normal
Derwood
July 10th, 2012
11:32 am
It is time to clean house in Washington, I am talking from the Oval office to the mail room. It is time to put term limits in place, delete teh retirements of the house and senate members, make them fall under the same health benefits (?) of Obama care, and to cut their office staff 50%.
Laurie
July 10th, 2012
2:40 pm
If retailers decide to start charging me extra for using my card, then I’ll seek out and do more business with retailers that don’t. Credit card use provides companies just as much benefit as it does consumers. It takes less time to handle a card transaction than a check, not to mention the fact of immediate approval of funds, rather than hoping someone isn’t writing a bad check, or relying on the cashiers to make correct change every time. Bottom line, if I know it’s going to cost extra, I’m not going to use my card. Checks cost me money too. So when it comes to shopping, if I must go to a retailer that’s going to charge me, I’ll only be spending the cash I bring, which means I’ll be spending less. Yay for me, bet these businesses want be as happy when their sales numbers drop.
Merchant beware
July 10th, 2012
3:10 pm
You may suffer even greater losses. It’s easier for cashiers to steal cash than credit card info.
buyer
July 10th, 2012
3:23 pm
don’t get mad when i take longer in line to count my money and have to recount it and rearange my change to put it back in my wallet either. cashiers are so rude, they can’t even wait for you to vacate before they start ringing up the next customer.
james
July 10th, 2012
3:27 pm
CASH is King… Always pay with cash except for
Hotels, Car Rental, Tickets and maybe large purchases… Keeps
you for spending more the you are able to pay.
Also keeps people out of your business and from so
easily stealing your identity…. Its something the 30 &
under crowd needs to learn… If Visa and MC start charging
you $1 everything you use your credit or debt card it could
add up $$ in a hurry…. Remember Checks still work as well
for your bills, etc….
Rose
July 10th, 2012
3:34 pm
I’m with “Laurie”. It’s a convenience for me to use a credit card. If you want my business, you might get it, but I won’t be paying a fee. I’ve read many reports that say paying cash makes you think twice before spending more money than if you charged the item. Retailers should be careful what they wish for, it might come true.
I share a cell phone plan with my grown daughter. She purchased a new I-phone after her two year contract on the old phone was up. They charged her a $36 upgrade. I called them up and asked how does it make sense for her to pay for the privilege of paying them hundreds of dollars for a new phone? They took the fee off. I mean really, people.
I1 6b
July 10th, 2012
4:27 pm
not to worry! barack and joe will do something — maybe bail out a connected company with a lot of union voters! get busy now–reelection time is near!
woodrow
July 10th, 2012
5:37 pm
I don’t think card companies should gouge merchants. The customer should pay a card fee. Then the cards will go away altogether. And people have to have money before they can buy something. You know, the way it is supposed to be. The way it was before credit cards.
DannyG
July 11th, 2012
7:43 am
I run a very small business and out of necessity, I have to take credit cards. Last month, I took in $23,999.00 in credit/debit cards. That cost me $333.00 in fees to take those cards. That comes right off the bottom line for me providing a convienance to my customer. Please stop using your credit/debit cards and use cash. It would not hurt my feelings at all. The credit card companies/banks make huge profits on you in interest. The payment processing companies make huge profits on the retailer for you using the cards and the vendor is charged because he allows you to pay with it. Stop the madness and use cash!
Maz1
July 11th, 2012
8:06 am
Fees for taking credit/debit cards = cost of doing business. It’s not like companies haven’t already marketed up the cost of the goods by 30-50% anyway.
Some companies already do charge customers for using plastic over cash. Take a look at Towers Liquore store. There are 2 prices on the shelves. One for cash – One for Credit.
Hamlet
July 11th, 2012
11:35 am
DannyG, I hear what you are saying, but in reality, people are more likely to write checks than they are to pay with cash. Result – we have more NFS checks to deal with. And cash in a retail setting is risky. I hate paying that skim to the cc processors, but it’s the cost of business. And most important, studies have shown that when people use credit cards, they tend to buy more than when they pay with cash.
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3:39 pm
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Anonymous FB user
July 11th, 2012
9:08 pm
This is crap… It is and should be a private contractual matter. If the store doesn’t want to allow Visa/Mastercard (like Aldi, for example) then it shouldn’t use them. But don’t fleece the customer any more than they are being fleeced! If Kroger charges a % and Publix does not, guess who is getting my business from here on???!!!
Boycott Kroger!
July 12th, 2012
7:03 am
Don’t shop at Kroger if they want to force an extra fee on your purchases! Besides, their produce sucks. #publixFTW
Ralph Christian
July 12th, 2012
8:34 pm
So DannyG paid 1.38 cents on every debit/credit card dollar that he made but he prefers to have lower sales by (1) not accepting cards or (2) charging card users. I wonder if he would have made almost $24,000 last month had he such policy in effect!
Dawg '88
July 12th, 2012
8:48 pm
So you can’t write checks much anymore. Then you will be penalized for using credit cards. And using Debit cards is dangerous because if lost…they can be used by anyone.
What may happen is people carrying loads of cash which leads to robberies on the rise. Great. Lawsuits cost the consumer again.
Eric
July 14th, 2012
10:26 am
It really is annoying when you have to wait behind someone paying with cash or even worse, writing a check. Personally, I use AMEX for everything I can since they offer the best rewards. If I find a business that doesn’t accept it, I generally steer clear. If certain stores start charging more to use a card, believe me, they will lose my business.
Accepting credit cards is just like any other business expense. You don’t have to provide air conditioning, you can turn off half your lights or you can fire one of your janitors and not keep the store as clean. Is the lost business worth cutting those expenses?