The death of reward credit cards?

[pkosheta]

Starting January 27 merchants can add up to a 4% surcharge to your total in order to cover the swipe fee.  They have to disclose the fee by posting it at the entrance, at the register and on your receipt.  Online merchants must post it on their home pages.  Regardless, I imagine certain cards like amex, visa sig, world mastercards will be hit extra hard.  Is this the death of rewards cards Or will merchants blink and be too afraid to charge the fees?  I imagine some wil and some won't, but I bet mom and pop shops will,  as will places with a monopoly... Like airport bars, merchants in stadiums, I'm sure people can think of more...  I might have to start writing checks for my bills again...I hate writing checks And paying with cash.  Merchants may come to regret Killing credit cards.

[visorboy1974]

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@pkosheta wrote:

Starting January 27 merchants can add up to a 4% surcharge to your total in order to cover the swipe fee.  They have to disclose the fee by posting it at the entrance, at the register and on your receipt.  Online merchants must post it on their home pages.  Regardless, I imagine certain cards like amex, visa sig, world mastercards will be hit extra hard.  Is this the death of rewards cards Or will merchants blink and be too afraid to charge the fees?  I imagine some wil and some won't, but I bet mom and pop shops will,  as will places with a monopoly... Like airport bars, merchants in stadiums, I'm sure people can think of more...  I might have to start writing checks for my bills again...I hate writing checks And paying with cash.  Merchants may come to regret Killing credit cards.

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I think you'll get some mom and pop shops that traditionally do cash business that'll enforce it because a lot of the credit card transactions they deal with are small, but for most bigger places, it'll make them uncompetitive.  No way they'll tack that surcharge on.  

[nyancat]

Any merchant stupid enough to do this who doesn't have a captive market will be commiting corporate suicide. College campuses, military bases, etc are the only places you should expect to see these surcharges (captive market). In a competitive market, they won't exist

[CruzImperial]

There's only 2 places I have found here in Miami that don't take Amex cards. After getting home, I report them to amex and make sure I don't ever go back there.

If someone ever wat to charge me 4% for using my card, believe me, I will be out of there in the blink of an eye and see them close in couple of months.

[visorboy1974]

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@CruzImperial wrote:

There's only 2 places I have found here in Miami that don't take Amex cards. After getting home, I report them to amex and make sure I don't ever go back there.

If someone ever wat to charge me 4% for using my card, believe me, I will be out of there in the blink of an eye and see them close in couple of months.

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What does reporting them to Amex do for you?

[Open123]

Currently, charging credit cards more are illegal in the following States:

- California

- Colorado

- Connecticut

- Florida

- Kansas

- Maine

- Massachusetts

- New York

- Oklahoma

- Texas

I know that in CA, merchants are free to offer a cash discount, which makes sense.  They cannot however charge an "extra" fee for credit cards or even different types of credit cards.  That rule is pretty strictly enforced in this State.

Question is if I'm making an online purchase from a State that allows the fee, but I'm ordering from CA, what State's law governs this purchase regarding the charging of CC fees?

[Open123]

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@visorboy1974 wrote:

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@CruzImperial wrote:

There's only 2 places I have found here in Miami that don't take Amex cards. After getting home, I report them to amex and make sure I don't ever go back there.

If someone ever wat to charge me 4% for using my card, believe me, I will be out of there in the blink of an eye and see them close in couple of months.

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What does reporting them to Amex do for you?

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Nothing, unless the merchant has the "Amex cards are welcomed" here banner.  In that case, they've violated the merchant agreement, and Amex can and will no longer allow them to process through the Amex payment network.

[drkaje]

I'm pretty certain any establishment with a surcharge sign will not get my business.

[Open123]

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@drkaje wrote:

I'm pretty certain any establishment with a surcharge sign will not get my business.

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Amazingly, for shopowners, all it'll take are a few people who leave or refuse to buy to sway them.

Last year, there was a restaurant I frequented who refused to take Amex.  When told of this, I just left (not to make a point, but I didn't have cash or any other cards with me).  It was a party of around 10!

A few months ago, I suddenly see the Amex blue banner at the same restaurant.  Maybe a coincidence, but no retailers enjoy losing out on revenue.  As consumers, our loudest voice is how and where we decide to spend our hard earned money.

[drkaje]

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@Open123 wrote:

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@drkaje wrote:

I'm pretty certain any establishment with a surcharge sign will not get my business.

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Amazingly, for shopowners, all it'll take are a few people who leave or refuse to buy to sway them.

Last year, there was a restaurant I frequented who refused to take Amex.  When told of this, I just left (not to make a point, but I didn't have cash or any other cards with me).  It was a party of around 10!

A few months ago, I suddenly see the Amex blue banner at the same restaurant.  Maybe a coincidence, but no retailers enjoy losing out on revenue.  As consumers, our loudest voice is how and where we decide to spend our hard earned money.

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I believe you're right.

We go to a few, small cash-only places. They've been around forever and have great stuff but it's still a pain because I rarely carry cash and have to plan spending in advance. We've been eating at one place so long the owner actually let us pay later (or the next day) one time when I forgot my wallet, LOL!