Credit Card Fees

[olds]

2nd story

Credit card companies quash county parking fee
By Robert Lewis


Losing money on your parking lot business?

Sacramento County supervisors thought they found the solution, voting in June to add a $1 surcharge on people parking at a county lot with credit and debit cards.

Stagnant revenue combined with rising costs and debt left the Parking Enterprise with an operating deficit of almost $667,000 in fiscal year 2008-09.

The surcharge was expected to bring in about $10,000 a year, county documents say.

Mike Morse, director of general services, said that would roughly cover the transaction fee the service provider charges the county for credit card transactions.

On July 1, drivers who didn't have cash to park in the lots and used plastic were assessed the extra $1 fee.

Over the next 10 days, about 400 people paid the fee. And then the credit card companies ? after finding out about it ? put an end to it.

They told officials the county couldn't simply assess their customers surcharges.

Now the county is in the process of crediting the accounts of those assessed the fee.

Because the receipts don't have the full credit card numbers, the county is working with the service provider to get a list of customers who paid the surcharge, said Rhonda Kissane, an administrative services officer in the parking division.

 

[Engineer]

But they can give a "cash discount rebate". i.e. If you pay the $21 with cash, we will give you an instant rebate of $1.00. Works for the diesel stations up and down the Interstate.

 

[sao123]

Originally posted by: Engineer
But they can give a "cash discount rebate". i.e. If you pay the $21 with cash, we will give you an instant rebate of $1.00. Works for the diesel stations up and down the Interstate.

not sure how thats any different.

 

[ScottFern]

The Illinois DMV charges an extra 75 cents to use a credit card to pay for DMV fees. I am wondering if we can report them as well?

 

[txrandom]

Originally posted by: sao123

Originally posted by: Engineer
But they can give a "cash discount rebate". i.e. If you pay the $21 with cash, we will give you an instant rebate of $1.00. Works for the diesel stations up and down the Interstate.

not sure how thats any different.

Cash discount rather than credit surcharge. It's exactly the same besides the wording, but the wording is all the credit card companies care about.

 

[shocksyde]

Originally posted by: ScottFern
The Illinois DMV charges an extra 75 cents to use a credit card to pay for DMV fees. I am wondering if we can report them as well?

Yep. Hookers.

 

[Juddog]

Originally posted by: ScottFern
The Illinois DMV charges an extra 75 cents to use a credit card to pay for DMV fees. I am wondering if we can report them as well?

Yes report them.

 

[oogabooga]

Originally posted by: sao123

Originally posted by: Engineer
But they can give a "cash discount rebate". i.e. If you pay the $21 with cash, we will give you an instant rebate of $1.00. Works for the diesel stations up and down the Interstate.

not sure how thats any different.

Credit card companies can't control who you offer discounts to.

The main concern with fees I think is that people would say "f that" and not use their cards all so that the merchant can save some money - which costs the credit card companies money. That they don't like.

 

[dabuddha]

Originally posted by: ScottFern
The Illinois DMV charges an extra 75 cents to use a credit card to pay for DMV fees. I am wondering if we can report them as well?

Yeah the electric company here charges a surcharge if you use a CC.

 

[Newbian]

Originally posted by: dabuddha

Originally posted by: ScottFern
The Illinois DMV charges an extra 75 cents to use a credit card to pay for DMV fees. I am wondering if we can report them as well?

Yeah the electric company here charges a surcharge if you use a CC.

Report them and see if the power stays on.

 

[spidey07]

Simple solution = don't take credit/debt cards.

 

[Brainonska511]

Originally posted by: dabuddha

Originally posted by: ScottFern
The Illinois DMV charges an extra 75 cents to use a credit card to pay for DMV fees. I am wondering if we can report them as well?

Yeah the electric company here charges a surcharge if you use a CC.

If they use an outside processing company or something like that, they are allowed to charge a convenience fee. It's not quite a surcharge.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: sao123

Originally posted by: Engineer
But they can give a "cash discount rebate". i.e. If you pay the $21 with cash, we will give you an instant rebate of $1.00. Works for the diesel stations up and down the Interstate.

not sure how thats any different.

It's stupid to make the distinction, but Visa and Mastercard both allow cash discounts. American Express allows a surcharge, but only if it applies to all non-cash payment methods.

 

[nerp]

Originally posted by: sao123

Originally posted by: Engineer
But they can give a "cash discount rebate". i.e. If you pay the $21 with cash, we will give you an instant rebate of $1.00. Works for the diesel stations up and down the Interstate.

not sure how thats any different.

It's a loophole. Bunch of people around here did it. Pay cash, pump, come back in get your "instant cash rebate"

 

[Newbian]

Originally posted by: spidey07
Simple solution = don't take credit/debt cards.

The problem is these days most places have to take it or deny a large chuck of business.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: Newbian

Originally posted by: spidey07
Simple solution = don't take credit/debt cards.

The problem is these days most places have to take it or deny a large chuck of business.

If they're losing money on it, screw the stupid people who don't carry cash.

 

[Newbian]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: Newbian

Originally posted by: spidey07
Simple solution = don't take credit/debt cards.

The problem is these days most places have to take it or deny a large chuck of business.

If they're losing money on it, screw the stupid people who don't carry cash.

It's not the people using credit cards fault.

It is after all California and their lack of financial planning at work.

 

[PlasmaBomb]

Awesome so the make an extra $10k...

so they are ~1.5% less fscked... but they are still fsked.

 

[sao123]

Originally posted by: spidey07
Simple solution = don't take credit/debt cards.

cash is obsolete and eventually will go to 100% plastic... what will they do then?

 

[kami333]

Originally posted by: nerp

Originally posted by: sao123

Originally posted by: Engineer
But they can give a "cash discount rebate". i.e. If you pay the $21 with cash, we will give you an instant rebate of $1.00. Works for the diesel stations up and down the Interstate.

not sure how thats any different.

It's a loophole. Bunch of people around here did it. Pay cash, pump, come back in get your "instant cash rebate"

Makes me shake my head whenever I see that.

5cent off for cash when gas was under $1 was a good deal, with gas at $2.50+ they need to start upping their discount to 12cents+.

 

[sswingle]

Wouldn't it make more sense to charge everyone more if you are losing money?

 

[Newbian]

Originally posted by: sswingle
Wouldn't it make more sense to charge everyone more if you are losing money?

Sssshhhh, don't explain economics to California.

 

[palswim]

Originally posted by: sao123

Originally posted by: Engineer
But they can give a "cash discount rebate". i.e. If you pay the $21 with cash, we will give you an instant rebate of $1.00. Works for the diesel stations up and down the Interstate.

not sure how thats any different.

Yeah, it's like how it's illegal in CA to charge a "late fee" for rent, but I had a landlord tell me that my rent was actually $100 higher, but I would get a "paying on time" discount. It's pretty hard to enforce things like that.

 

[AstroManLuca]

Originally posted by: shocksyde

Originally posted by: ScottFern
The Illinois DMV charges an extra 75 cents to use a credit card to pay for DMV fees. I am wondering if we can report them as well?

Yep. Hookers.

and blow

 

[destrekor]

Originally posted by: txrandom

Originally posted by: sao123

Originally posted by: Engineer
But they can give a "cash discount rebate". i.e. If you pay the $21 with cash, we will give you an instant rebate of $1.00. Works for the diesel stations up and down the Interstate.

not sure how thats any different.

Cash discount rather than credit surcharge. It's exactly the same besides the wording, but the wording is all the credit card companies care about.

so is that how gas stations get away with charging a credit card pump price versus cash pump price?
I've seen numerous stations start to list two prices on the sign: gas price, and credit card gas price.

I find it ridiculous to do that, because it was never that way, until gas started getting more expensive. Which seems backwards, but to keep prices lower gas stations may be getting less of a profit margin compared to when it was super cheap for gas, and the ones without that credit gas price may instead just be putting a bigger margin on the pump cost compared to what they get it at.