Op-Ed: Credit Card Fees

Ever walk into a Brooklyn store or eatery (or any store for that matter) to purchase a can of soda or a quick sandwich?

You brought your item to the counter, got rung up and the total is $1.39. Or $4.39. Or even $9.39. You pull out your credit card to make your purchase. But wait, the cashier then informs you, "Oh sorry, we have a $10.00 minimum for credit card purchases." (Or sometimes, you may even find "Oh, there is a $0.50 surcharge for credit card use).

Yes, in the stores I refer to, it happens with all cards, be it an American Express, a Visa card, a Discover card or even MasterCard. You know, we have all experienced this, and most of the time, we actually do drag ourselves around the store collecting a few extra things we don't need. Or we might possibly add a french fries to that order that we don't really want, and probably shouldn't be eating.

Well, after experiencing this in 4 different stores in our very own neighborhood today, I decided to take a look into the issue. You'd be surprised at what I found. Well, actually, the findings aren't so surprising themselves; it's the stores in fact that shock me.

Dearest patrons of local stores and eateries, it’s time you knew your rights as the carrier of one of these cards.

After some quick research, it was certainly not hard to find the information I was looking for. Three of the four major credit cards generally accepted around town (American Express and Discover of course being a little less popular) do not allow a merchant to set a minimum purchase for their card to be used. The only slight exception is that of American Express.

Visa: Visa clearly prohibits the establishment of a minimum purchase for a merchant that accepts their card as a form of payment. Quoting from usa.visa.com, "Visa merchants are not permitted to establish minimum transaction amounts, even on sale items. They also are not permitted to charge a surcharge fee when you use your Visa card.” This is actually stated in the guidelines presented each vendor when they first begin to accept Visa.

MasterCard: Merchants accepting MasterCard are required to follow the acceptance rules. At Mastercard.com it states that the MasterCard acceptance rules “prohibits merchants that accept MasterCard cards from establishing any minimum amount below which the merchant won't accept payment via MasterCard card.” They also specifically prohibit the practice of charging a fee for using the card.

Discover: When pressed by MainStreet.com, as to whether a place accepting Discover can set a purchase minimum, Discover answered briefly and to the point. ““All I can share with you is that this practice is prohibited under our merchant regulations” a Discover representative stated.

American Express: An American Express representative, also in a statement to MainStreet.com, in reference to the same question stated, “We don't prohibit minimums but discourage it because it's not consumer-friendly. However, we require parity with other products.” That means a merchant can't impose a minimum on American Express Cards and not on Visa or MasterCard. That in turn means that there cannot be a minimum on AmEx either, as the other three prohibit it.

It’s time we actually knew that we were in fact being "scammed" by our very own neighbors.

One thing you can always try is to challenge the vendor by stating that you actually know these rules. Sometimes they will cave and accept the "low charge." Other times, you may need to threaten to report them to the credit card company. Of course, choosing to not make the purchase at all always sends a good message.

This isn't about cheapness or the idea of outing fellow Crown Heightsers' little secrets. This is about fairness and the idea of people knowing their rights, and the privileges they deserve. It’s actually quite amazing to think that Lubavitchers would act in such a way towards other Lubavitchers. For them it’s about wanting to make a few extra pennies. For me, it’s about wanting to buy a can of Diet Coke, even when I don’t have cash.

Sorry folks, but according to the rules, my want, wins.