Paying to pay your bills. Gonna get worse?

[SL6827]

Just paid on my account at my physician's office today and was charged an extra couple dollars to pay with my debit card. It seems like more and more places are starting to charge you to pay a bill, whether it is with a debit card or credit card. Ughhh. My utility bill does as well, but I also have the option of paying with my checking account that incurs no cost, so that is what I do.

Do you think in the future that most retailers will follow suit, even with a debit card? And I wonder if they might also start to refuse high rewards credit cards as well?

 

[Magical2017]

I do think more and more places do it, or they offer a "cash discount."

I get that they are paying high fees and will charge to use a credit card, but as a consumer, I also feel like that is the cost of doing business. I definitely get why small, local businesses trying to stay afloat do this, but they have to know some people will just buy from Amazon. No cc fee, shipping is included with Prime membership, you always know if something is in stock, and it is very convenient.

We currently put almost all spending on credit cards and pay them off each month. In some cases, we pay cash if they charge a fee. It just depends on the service. We have saved thousands on vacations using points and miles, so for the most part, we will continue to use our credit cards.

 

[barkley]

And I wonder if they might also start to refuse high rewards credit cards as well?

a tentative settlement was reached between merchants and visa/mastercard last November (courts still have to approve it). it's been an ongoing class action for over 20 years. the tentative agreement allows-

Under the settlement, credit cards would be classified into three categories:

commercial cards
premium cards, including rewards cards
standard, no-rewards cards
Merchants could then choose which categories to accept, but must still accept all cards within a category. Merchants can also add a surcharge of up to 3% to customers’ bills for paying by credit card.

merchants currently are stuck with 'accept one brand card/accept all that that issuer offers' contracts so they can't limit transactions to no rewards cards (which they pay a lower fee to the card issuer for) which is why people who don't use rewards cards get hit with the same fee as those who use rewards cards. when/if this settlement gets approved by the courts it may be that some merchants refuse to take reward cards while others will charge a higher fee for a customer using one vs a lower/no fee for customers who do not.

 

[reddog21]

a tentative settlement was reached between merchants and visa/mastercard last November (courts still have to approve it). it's been an ongoing class action for over 20 years. the tentative agreement allows-

Under the settlement, credit cards would be classified into three categories:

commercial cards
premium cards, including rewards cards
standard, no-rewards cards
Merchants could then choose which categories to accept, but must still accept all cards within a category. Merchants can also add a surcharge of up to 3% to customers’ bills for paying by credit card.

merchants currently are stuck with 'accept one brand card/accept all that that issuer offers' contracts so they can't limit transactions to no rewards cards (which they pay a lower fee to the card issuer for) which is why people who don't use rewards cards get hit with the same fee as those who use rewards cards. when/if this settlement gets approved by the courts it may be that some merchants refuse to take reward cards while others will charge a higher fee for a customer using one vs a lower/no fee for customers who do not.

Just another way to screw the consumer

 

[disneychrista]

Any business that charges a fee to use my credit card I either don't frequent or if I do I just use cash. I refuse to pay a fee to pay my bill.

 

[chicagodisneyguy]

Was the cost to use a debit card the same as a credit card?

 

[VGCgroupie]

I worked for Amex 12 years ago and back then merchants were not allowed to do that. If you called Amex and told them Amex would charge back the merchant for the fee that was charged. With more companies doing it it seems maybe Amex has changed their policy. I have not verified that either way.

 

[barkley]

Any business that charges a fee to use my credit card I either don't frequent or if I do I just use cash. I refuse to pay a fee to pay my bill.

I see it just as them passing along the cost of doing business to me. it's rarely in the vendor's favor to accept a credit card b/c they are charged for it based on the spent amount. traditionally it's been in the consumer's favor due to paying over time or purchase protection, extended warranties and in the case of those who choose to pay for high rewards-high rewards. I prefer to bare the cost of being able to use a credit card vs it being passed on to other non credit card using consumers via price hikes.

 

[disneychrista]

I see it just as them passing along the cost of doing business to me. it's rarely in the vendor's favor to accept a credit card b/c they are charged for it based on the spent amount. traditionally it's been in the consumer's favor due to paying over time or purchase protection, extended warranties and in the case of those who choose to pay for high rewards-high rewards. I prefer to bare the cost of being able to use a credit card vs it being passed on to other non credit card using consumers via price hikes.

I understand that. But it is still not a cost I want to pay.

 

[Psychodisney]

I thought it was illegal to add a fee for a debit purchase

 

[DCLMP]

On some of my bills I pay the service fee to use a CC because the points or miles make it worth it. This is generally utility bills like water, electric, college rent. I believe the fee on utilities is 2.95 so adding the miles every month is worth it.

 

[WDW_fan_in_TX]

Just paid on my account at my physician's office today and was charged an extra couple dollars to pay with my debit card. It seems like more and more places are starting to charge you to pay a bill, whether it is with a debit card or credit card. Ughhh. My utility bill does as well, but I also have the option of paying with my checking account that incurs no cost, so that is what I do.

Do you think in the future that most retailers will follow suit, even with a debit card? And I wonder if they might also start to refuse high rewards credit cards as well?

Lots of restaurants around here do that, especially the small, locally owned ones. Also, both my CCs charge fees as does my car payment company. Our company just started charging the buyer a 5% fee as well. So I can see more and more folks doing it. I think it should be part of the business, but I don't own a business.

 

[DCLMP]

Lots of restaurants around here do that, especially the small, locally owned ones. Also, both my CCs charge fees as does my car payment company. Our company just started charging the buyer a 5% fee as well. So I can see more and more folks doing it. I think it should be part of the business, but I don't own a business.

The credit card company's charge the business a fee...I can see why small business would pass it on to the customer. One of my favorite local burger joints is cash only... not even a debit card. The line is usually out the door and down the street for this place. They keep prices lower by only taking cash. My favorite pizza place won't take AMEX because the fees are too high.

 

[barkley]

I just received a bill for an electrical issue we had repaired last month. the invoice indicates that if the bill is greater than $1000 and a credit card is used then a 3% fee is charged.

 

[reddog21]

There is a cost to carry cash and usually it's way more than the fees charged by credit card companies, I don't understand why people can't grasp that. On avg the cost to carry cash is between 4-15% way more than the transactional fees charged using CC. Not to mention people tend to spend way more if using a CC then paying cash. Around 20-100% more.

The only reason businesses go cash-only is to make it easier to balance at the end of the day, not because of credit card fees. If you need instant cash for any reason, credit card payments take 24–72 hours to process, so you don’t get that immediate money-in-the-bank feeling. The other part is there's obviously more fraud involved in CC transactions.

When you use a checking account, there’s still a clearinghouse processing fee, but it’s currently much lower than the fees charged by Visa, Mastercard, and similar services.


Several states, particularly in the Northeast, are pushing to make credit card surcharges illegal. From what I understand, this is already the case in the EU, with some exceptions and other counties cap the surcharge usually around 1-2%. Here is the US it's the wild west and we protect companies not people.

 

[SandyinMonterey]

That has been my experience for years now. The dotors offices don't accept checks anymore. Not surprised, they're fading. I was told that the banks were charging the offices a lot of fees for the checks. I usually just have a co-pay when I go to the doctor, $10 so I try to have exact cash on me for that. As of right now, the doctors office doesn't harge a fee when using credit or debit. However, when it comes to paying other bills or having services done on our home is a different story, When we bought 3 new AC units, 2 new furnances, new water heater and recently a new roof.....if we put it on a credit card there was a 3% finance charge. Or cash/check with a small discount. The companies are now putting the price of them doing business onto customers.

 

[SL6827]

I thought it was illegal to add a fee for a debit purchase

Not sure.

 

[SL6827]

Was the cost to use a debit card the same as a credit card?

They didn't even mention a fee at all to me when I paid.

 

[tvguy]

Entirely reasonable to me. I mean if you go to a restaurant and order a hamburger, you pay less than if you order a filet. If you order a more expensive item, you pay more. If you use a more expensive way of paying for that meal, you pay more.
You can pay your Property Taxes here with a credit card or debit card, but there is a 2.29% convenience fee tacked on. The government is going to get it's full amount, no cost of doing business excuses there.

 

[SL6827]

Entirely reasonable to me. I mean if you go to a restaurant and order a hamburger, you pay less than if you order a filet. If you order a more expensive item, you pay more. If you use a more expensive way of paying for that meal, you pay more.
You can pay your Property Taxes here with a credit card or debit card, but there is a 2.29% convenience fee tacked on. The government is going to get it's full amount, no cost of doing business excuses there.

We use our checking account for property taxes and no fee, which is good.