Cash or Credit/Debit?

[JoeMommaBlake]

I may be wrong, so don't hold me to this, but if I recall from my days of working in the merchant services business, Visa and Mastercard both dictate (or at least they did at the time) that if you accept their cards at your location you are not allowed per your contract with your merchant services provider to surcharge those transactions.

Discover card does not share this policy. You may notice that Tag Agencies will allow you to pay with a Discover card but they will surcharge you for the transaction. They are not allowed to surcharge the VISA/MC so they don't accept them.

It is not uncommon for any typical retail business to pay roughly 1.6% of each standard swiped credit card transaction, plus a .20-.25 cent transaction fee. Therefore, a business that processes a million dollars a year in credit cards is paying at least 26,000 a year in credit card processing fees. It's a fun bill to get, trust me.

Most credit card processing companies surcharge the living crap out of business and hand keyed transactions. What that means is that if you pay with a corporate card or if you pay over the phone, the merchant is paying a whole lot more. Even rewards cards cost more for the merchant.

Debit cards do indeed cost the merchant far less. The day may come where everybody asks you for your pin number. It's inconvenient for restaurants to do it, but QT has figured out how to do it on every transaction and I'm sure it's saving them a fortune.

By the way....there's no real security risk to someone knowing your pin. These days, nobody is checking IDs on CC transactions so a card is a card is a card. The only advantage to knowing a pin would be for hitting up the ATM, but crooks know better. ATM machines have cameras. If your card is stolen by anyone with a brain, it'll be used at places without them.

[Michael71]

quote:Originally posted by TheArtist

quote:Originally posted by MichaelWayne_71

Exactly!!!  This is why most places give you the option to enter your PIN when using a debit card...they get charged less...much less!!!  Most will make it look like you HAVE to enter your PIN, but you can just hit cancel & it will process as a credit card.  This is also why you will see small businesses have a minimum amount to use a card.

I think you have it backwards. You get charged more when you use a credit card versus when you use a debit card. Most places I have been to the default seems to be the credit card and they charge you for using it. Some places, even if you use a debit card and you push credit card, you get charged more. You want to use your pin so you dont get charged the credit card fee.

I am referring to the fees that the merchant(any biz that accepts cards) pays to their credit card processor.

If I, the customer, use a debit card at QT...or wherever, QT gets charged more if I don't enter my PIN.  Hope I cleared that up.

FYI...I have never seen a charge from my bank...whether I use it as a credit or enter my PIN.  Maybe it's my bank

[Michael71]

quote:Originally posted by naenae42day

quote:Originally posted by Wilbur

quote:Originally posted by Radio

quote:Originally posted by MichaelWayne_71

If you have ever tried to use a credit Visa/MC @ Sam's...it's impossible.  You can use your debit card & enter your PIN, but not a credit card other than AMEX & maybe Discover.

I am confused.  We have company Mastercards, and
they get used all the time at Sams.

Sam's only accepts Discover.  That is because they have a deal with Discover.  While you normally get 1% cash back on purchases, you only get 0.25% cash back when you use your Discover at Sam's.

That is no longer accurate.  You can use your any CC or your debit card.  It has been this way for several years.      

PER THE SAMS WEBSITE.  The last line really only pertains to AMEX.  Since they accept debit, adn most debit are VISA.  

Which forms of payment are accepted online at samsclub.com and which are accepted In-Club?
   To purchase with samsclub.com, you may use a Sam's Club Credit Account, Wal-Mart/Sam's Club Shopping Card, Check, Discover®, Visa, MasterCard® or American Express®. To purchase at a Sam's Club location, you may only use either a Sam's Club Credit Account, Discover®, MasterCard®, Debit Card, Shopping Card, Cash or Check. American Express and Visa are not accepted for In-Club purchases.

I think that they may only take debit cards IF you enter your PIN.  I have never been able to use instore...and I try not to purchase much online so that my tax dollars stay here in Tulsa.

[ttownclown]

It's my understanding that if you choose "Credit" --- the transaction uses the credit card network and the merchant is charged a fee.  If you choose "Debit" and use your PIN, the transaction uses the ATM network and your Bank burdens the brunt of the  merchant fee.  

As far as stores charging you extra for using a Visa -- it is against the stores' merchant agreement with VISA.    The following is taken directly from the Visa website  - http://www.usa.visa.com/download/merchants/rules_for_visa_merchants.pdf

"No Surcharging, Always treat VISA transactions like any other transaction; that is, you may not impose any surcharge on a Visa transaction.  You may, however offer a discount for cash transactions, provided that the offer is clearly disclosed to customers and the cash price is presented as a discount from the standard price charged for all other forms of payment"

[ttownclown]

quote:Originally posted by Wilbur

Oklahoma (one of ten states) makes it illegal to charge more in a transaction when someone chooses to use a credit card.

Nothing says the store has to accept credit cards, but if they do, they are prohibited from charging someone more for using the card.

Look at Title 14A, Article 2, Section A:

"No seller in any sales transaction may impose a surcharge on a cardholder who elects an open-end credit card account instead of paying by cash, check or similar means."

Quick question: Why are the tag agencies allowed to charge a surcharge if you use your Discover card to purchase tags?

[tnt091605]

The way it was explained to me, I should look it up myself, is that according to Visa/MC that they can offer a discount for cash but not a surcharge for using a Visa/MC.

[Michael71]

When it comes to fees for using credit cards...I believe it is all in the wording.

e.g.--

You can advertise a "discount" for using cash, but can't advertise higher price for using credit card.  May be different w/Discover, etc...

[dbacks fan]

An update since I started this thread. The place in particular is a Valero(Diamond Shamrock) store at the corner of Cave Creek Road and Union Hills Drive in Phoenix a 1/2 mile from my house. They are offering a discount on gas of aprroximately 6 cents per gallon for using cash. If you use credit or debit you are paying a price that is within 1 to 2 cents of the stations that are in the same trade area. I asked the manager of the station and he informed me that there staion does a high enough volume of sales in gas purchased with credit or debit that they can of the cash discount. Appeantly Valero has looked at it's stations and targeted particular ones for this program based on sales. This station in particular is always busy every morning with landscape and construction companies filling their trucks, and it is generally busy through out the day. For me the savings would be about $1.20 per week, provided I did not use their ATM which charges a $2.95 fee for withdrwalls.

I actually go to Costco that is one mile away and spend even less. As an examle this past Sunday we filled the wife truck at Costco and paid $3.63, the Valero cash was $3.73, and their credit/debit was $3.79.