Charging an additional fee for credit use is against the merchant agreement you make with the processing companies. Doing this can result in the revocation of your merchant account and an inability to accept cards as payment if a savvy consumer reports you.
You may offer a cash discount but you cannot upcharge for credit use.
I do not have a merchant agreement with anyone since Iām not a merchant. As I mentioned in my original post, I have seen speciality stores, camera stores in LA specifically, do exactly what I described and charge an extra fee for use of a credit card. If you want to call it a cash discount, fine, the end result is the same.
No, it isnāt the same thing. The price shown on the item must be the credit price. If you are upcharged at the point of sale, that is a violation.
Just because they havenāt been reported because most consumers donāt know this, doesnāt mean it is allowed. I was simply informing since most people donāt know this practice is a violation and if a trainer decides to approach it this way they can lose their ability to accept credit cards for payment.
The price given must be a credit price (the fees must be built into the amount charged the customer) and a cash discount offered. Passing the fee on to the customer directly in form of an increased charge is prohibited.
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