Topic: Credit Card Usage About To Get More Expensive?

[trapeze]

LINK

Every time you use your credit card, the store pays up to 3 percent of your total purchase to the credit card company. It’s called a “swipe fee” and now some fed-up retailers are getting ready to pass this cost on to you, in the form of a surcharge.

While others want to reward you for paying with cash.

Paper or plastic? It’s a simple choice, but it’s about to get a lot more complicated, CBS 2’s Emily Smith reported.

“You’re going to start to see retailers really weighing what they’re going to charge consumers for using a credit card,” said Kelli Grant of Smart Money magazine.

That’s right, major retailers — from supermarkets to drug stores — may soon be charging you more if you choose to pay for an item with a credit card, instead of paying with cash.

“An extra 2 to 3 percent,” Grant said.

It’s all because Visa-MasterCard and several major banks settled a long running lawsuit alleging they conspired to fix “swipe fees.”

As part of the settlement, retailers are now allowed to charge customers a surcharge if they pay with plastic.

Great.

[Weisshaupt]

LINK

Every time you use your credit card, the store pays up to 3 percent of your total purchase to the credit card company. It’s called a “swipe fee” and now some fed-up retailers are getting ready to pass this cost on to you, in the form of a surcharge.

While others want to reward you for paying with cash.

Paper or plastic? It’s a simple choice, but it’s about to get a lot more complicated, CBS 2’s Emily Smith reported.

“You’re going to start to see retailers really weighing what they’re going to charge consumers for using a credit card,” said Kelli Grant of Smart Money magazine.

That’s right, major retailers — from supermarkets to drug stores — may soon be charging you more if you choose to pay for an item with a credit card, instead of paying with cash.

“An extra 2 to 3 percent,” Grant said.

It’s all because Visa-MasterCard and several major banks settled a long running lawsuit alleging they conspired to fix “swipe fees.”

As part of the settlement, retailers are now allowed to charge customers a surcharge if they pay with plastic.

Great.

In all, this is a good thing.   All of the major purchases I have done in the last few years, I did with cash (bank wire transfer) . Each time I asked for a cash discount and each time, I got one. APMEX explicitly charges a higher price for Credit Card transactions.  You are costing the dealer money, there really isn't any reason they shouldn't make that explicit to you.  This will provide a driving force to use cash transactions and popular  resistance to a "cashless" economy.  In the end that means the government has less control.  They can't track the cash, and therefore under-reporting income on taxes will become more common.  Likewise, the ability to characterize anyone using cash as a criminal will become more difficult.

[Pandora]

The fees to the retailer are nothing new, and AMEX is one of the, if not the, highest, which is the reason why many retailers will take Visa/Mastercard only, and why a smaller shop or sole proprietor has typically been willing to accede to a cash discount.

The Dodd-Frank legislation is really putting the squeeze on enterprises doing business by credit card, in more ways than new credit card regulation, so I'm not surprised they're passing it on to the public, directly.  It is a bit Orwellian, however, to label the new practice a "cash discount" when it's nothing of the sort; it's the regular amount for cash and a higher sum if one is paying by credit card.  It's going to be more difficult, I think, to get a real cash discount going forward.

[warpmine]

LINK

Every time you use your credit card, the store pays up to 3 percent of your total purchase to the credit card company. It’s called a “swipe fee” and now some fed-up retailers are getting ready to pass this cost on to you, in the form of a surcharge.

While others want to reward you for paying with cash.

Paper or plastic? It’s a simple choice, but it’s about to get a lot more complicated, CBS 2’s Emily Smith reported.

“You’re going to start to see retailers really weighing what they’re going to charge consumers for using a credit card,” said Kelli Grant of Smart Money magazine.

That’s right, major retailers — from supermarkets to drug stores — may soon be charging you more if you choose to pay for an item with a credit card, instead of paying with cash.

“An extra 2 to 3 percent,” Grant said.

It’s all because Visa-MasterCard and several major banks settled a long running lawsuit alleging they conspired to fix “swipe fees.”

As part of the settlement, retailers are now allowed to charge customers a surcharge if they pay with plastic.

Great.

In all, this is a good thing.   All of the major purchases I have done in the last few years, I did with cash (bank wire transfer) . Each time I asked for a cash discount and each time, I got one. APMEX explicitly charges a higher price for Credit Card transactions.  You are costing the dealer money, there really isn't any reason they shouldn't make that explicit to you.  This will provide a driving force to use cash transactions and popular  resistance to a "cashless" economy.  In the end that means the government has less control.  They can't track the cash, and therefore under-reporting income on taxes will become more common.  Likewise, the ability to characterize anyone using cash as a criminal will become more difficult.

My accounting professor from college days taught us the same lesson to which I'm grateful that he wasn't the run of the mill leftist trash.

As far as the cash is concerned, I think we'd be better off paying in actual valued coin(precious metal( than even the dreaded Fed Res Note and I think a discount there to would be in the making, however, we have to rid ourselves of the mandatory use of those fiat currency notes. The communists in the government would have kittens if we went back to real currency based metals. 

[warpmine]

The fees to the retailer are nothing new, and AMEX is one of the, if not the, highest, which is the reason why many retailers will take Visa/Mastercard only, and why a smaller shop or sole proprietor has typically been willing to accede to a cash discount.

The Dodd-Frank legislation is really putting the squeeze on enterprises doing business by credit card, in more ways than new credit card regulation, so I'm not surprised they're passing it on to the public, directly.  It is a bit Orwellian, however, to label the new practice a "cash discount" when it's nothing of the sort; it's the regular amount for cash and a higher sum if one is paying by credit card.  It's going to be more difficult, I think, to get a real cash discount going forward.

This is just another instance of government interference creating another problem to solve. We must rid ourselves of this oppressive unethical non constitutional government or we'll revisit this every other year until we've lost it all.

Terrible in that every lesson the Founding Fathers learned 230 years ago will be our own undoing. They laid it out in their writings so that future generations could read the reasoning behind what they did. However, they were dismissed as living in a archaic time and superstitious of all things government. The progressive movement capitalized on the uneducated to founding principals that the citizenry encapsulated themselves in.

[Libertas]

I smell another "consumers rights" cause du juor in the offing...

[charlesoakwood]

Cash is so retro.  I enjoy paying my bills with a
credit card, every bill a smile and not-a-stamp.
Hey, USPS, GO BROKE.

[Libertas]

Online bill pay, I love it, screw the USPS, but I bet the thieves go after that angle sooner or later too...

Who needs roads to succeed?   

[ToddF]

You've been seeing retailers get around it anyway.  Branded cards that give you discounts at their store.  I have a Target card (5%) Amazon card (3%) BP card (was 5% but was recently lowered) and now a Coscto/Amex card (they only card they will take.)  Screw all these cards and just give me a discount for cash!

But I like this court ruling outlawing CC companies from preventing retailers to charge to use cards.  Free markets always win in the end.  If it costs 3% to use the card then some retailer will want my business enough to charge me 3% less for paying cash.

[Pandora]

Vendors at gun and classic auto shows have been doing what you describe for a long time now.  They'll take a credit card, but will ding you for the fee; they tell you that up front.

If you pay cash, then they'll give a discount off the price of the item, not just omit the credit card fee.

I make it a practice to ask every tradesman if they give a discount for cash.  Most will.

[charlesoakwood]

Bought Shell gasoline today; the station offered 5¢ a gallon discount for
CASH.  That brought the cost of purchasing the best gas in line with average
gas, very competitive. 

The Dutch own the gas and Indians own the station, somebody better get
on the stick.