I was at the Ford dealer today and when I went to pay they asked me if I was using Credit or Debit, as they now had to charge 3% to use Credit cards. I asked the guy why the sudden change - he said that Ford used to be charged .8 % due to their volumes, but that the CC companies are now upping the rates regardless of the volume. Ford considered the lower rate as just the cost of doing business, but now they have decided to pass it along to the customer directly instead of hiding it in pricing schemes. I like that as I would rather have the choice.
I wonder if all the fraud that the CC companies just seem to write off is catching up with them?

My dentist is now charging about 3% to use either a debit or credit card.

So I had them do all the work yesterday and then gave them cash. It took them quite awhile to make the change. I’m hoping if enough people force them to bring their checkout system to a halt to make proper change then perhaps they will drop the nonsense.

The alternative is to take business elsewhere. But the medical industry seems to think they have everyone by the short curlies

Ten years ago I tried to pay $25K for the balance on a new car.
The dealer wouldn't do it - they didn't want to lose that much to the credit card percentage.
The most they would take on a card was $3K.

Everyone is now charging extra for using a credit card it seems. 3-5%

I foresee a big smackdown of these credit card companies coming.

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
Everyone is now charging extra for using a credit card it seems.

That's far from true.

It was my understanding that the big credit companies like Visa and Mastercard had rules that a vendor could not charge a fee to use the card. Some got around that by offering a "cash discount". I know my local gun stores do that.

quote:

Originally posted by WaterburyBob:
Ten years ago I tried to pay $25K for the balance on a new car.
The dealer wouldn't do it - they didn't want to lose that much to the credit card percentage.
The most they would take on a card was $3K.

When my wife bought her RAV4, she was just going to write a check to pay for it. The paperwork guy at the Toyota dealer told her that she could put up to $5,000 on her cash-back card, so she did.

Similarly, when I bought my Escape, the Ford dealer accepted $7,000 on my cash-back card.

quote:

Originally posted by frayedends:

It was my understanding that the big credit companies like Visa and Mastercard had rules that a vendor could not charge a fee to use the card.

That was true years ago, but I believe that policy has been rescinded.

I checked with VISA when a local Roadside Service company added an exorbitant credit card fee to a bill for changing a tire. VISA told me that the surcharge could not exceed the actual fee that VISA charged to the merchant. I emailed the merchant with that information from VISA and told the merchant that they needed to reduce the surcharge that they had billed me, to no more than the VISA fee in order to be in compliance with their merchant agreement. They gave me a nastily worded reply, but they refunded the complete surcharge; they didn't even retain the amount that they could have kept.

quote:

It was my understanding that the big credit companies like Visa and Mastercard had rules that a vendor could not charge a fee to use the card. Some got around that by offering a "cash discount". I know my local gun stores do that.

2013 class action lawsuit changed all of that, and it's currently only illegal in a few states.

Outside of that, what's wrong with somebody who's accepting payment for goods or services adjusting those charges based upon your payment method? Restaurants are really good examples. You get your bill and pay with a CC including tip. The restaurant then has to pay 3% for what you owe them, 3% for the tip that goes to your waiter, and 3% for the taxes that go to the government (who by the way, also charges to use a CC to pay any monies owed to them).

Right, but many also now don't want to accept cash. Cashless is the new "thing".

Unless they're giving you a cash discount, you are already paying the merchant fees. They're built into the prices for everyone. If they need to raise their prices, then raise the prices. I really don't care to read line items. I care about my out-the-door price.

quote:

Originally posted by 1967Goat:
Right, but many also now don't want to accept cash. Cashless is the new "thing".

If they don,t take cash and try to charge me 3% fee it will be the last time I go there.

quote:

If they don,t take cash and try to charge me 3% fee it will be the last time I go there.

They already are, they just aren't listing it as a separate charge.

quote:

merchant fees. They're built into the prices for everyone.

That's not exactly true. I'll generally accept a credit card without issue for a small charge up to a few hundred dollars. But let's say a get a customer that's spending $20,000. That's going to cost me $600. Why should I be expected eat that, or raise my prices for all of my cash/check customers to make up for it?

The credit card user is generating the expense, so why shouldn't the credit card user be responsible for it?

Let me give you another example unrelated to credit cards. When I do out of town work it is quoted at a rate plus expenses. Let's say there's toll roads to get to you. You pay those tolls, I don't mark up my rates to spread my toll expenses to all of my other customers.

If I was a business doing a lot of smaller transactions and handling cash, I'd rather eat the three percent and have the money go straight into my account without the worries (mistakes & theft) and costs in employee time as that would be less costly to me.
In my business, I have many sales that are high dollar but low margin so I only take checks. The three percent would really hurt.

In July 2022, I charged almost $12,000 on my cash back credit card for a new motorcycle.

The price was the same for cash, check, or credit card.

quote:

The price was the same for cash, check, or credit card.

From your perspective, as far as you know.

I watched a few you tubes that featured very very well healed people complaining that their banks wouldn't allow them to remove large sums of cash from their accounts.

Some wanted $60,000 some wanted $160,000.


So according to them,
Cash on hand has once again become a necessity .

When ever they go by their bank , they pull in and take out 7,8, or $9,000.00 and store it "someplace".

For future use sometimes once a week , sometimes four times a week at different locations.

quote:

Originally posted by bendable:
I watched a few you tubes that featured very very well healed people complaining that their banks wouldn't allow them to remove large sums of cash from their accounts.

Some wanted $60,000 some wanted $160,000.


So according to them,
Cash on hand has once again become a necessity .

When ever they go by their bank , they pull in and take out 7,8, or $9,000.00 and store it "someplace".

For future use sometimes once a week , sometimes four times a week at different locations.

Banks don't usually store a lot of cash at each branch any more, just enough to cover an average day's withdrawals, plus what's in the ATM. If you wish to make a large withdrawal, the want you to arrange it ahead of time and (maybe) go to a particular branch to execute the transaction.

quote:

Banks don't usually store a lot of cash at each branch any more

Imagine how interesting that will be the day China or some other terrorist group goes after the power grid or the internet.

The bank run will last 5 minutes before they're out of money and can't get any more.

It will be immediate. Not 5 min. No paper copies anymore. No passbooks. lol


Most of us keep cash at home