Refusing payment by credit card?!

[pilgrimage]

As a small business owner who does play by Visa's rules, yes. Please
report them. There are fees, but that is the cost of doing business
like advertising and utilities. Do I wish they were less? YES.
We pay for the convenience, but the certainty of money in
the account at day's end is better than waiting for a check to
clear/bounce or losing a client who prefers not to carry cash.

 

[kfeuer]

Just because a credit card only situation wouldn't work for you, doesn't mean it doesn't work for many people.

When I was riding my budget very close to the edge I *did* record my credit card charges like they were debit withdrawals. I am no longer that tight in my budget and have a very good sense of my expenditures without needing to record every penny. I know approximately what my credit card bill will be each month without opening it. If I have questions about it, I look it up online and see where I'm at. I do carry some cash, but it is not unusual for me to have less than $2 in my wallet for weeks without realizing it because I charge almost everything.

I have had a credit card since I was 18 years old and have never been in credit card debt. I have, however, been on many free trips as a result of my credit card points.

I totally agree. About the only place I spend cash is at garage sales!

We're doing an ultra-cheap trip to DW in a few weeks ($500 for a week, not counting tickets already on hand and condo paid for by my parents) and over half my budget has come from credit card rewards earned in the past 6 months. I've got a $100 gas gift card, $100 in cash back, and $110 in Disney reward dollars. That's alot of rewards for everyday purchases (and yes, we pay off the credit card balance each month).

 

[gradtchr]

All this just because someone doesn't want to carry a few $$$ in cash with them. Do you keep the CC receipts the whole month to reconcile with the statement. I thought not. And one wonders how they get into CC debt.

I usually do not have any cash on me and I haven't really carried any cash since I was 21. I charge everything, do I keep the receipts only until I see the charge hit the account then out they go, and I do check our cc accounts daily. After one learning experience in college I have never been in cc debt because I only use the card. I know how much we have per month to spend and we spend based on that number.

 

[tracy51]

(snip) or take $5 with you to get ice cream next time..

Better yet, take your business elsewhere

Everyone has a choice of where they do business (for the most part). While I agree that they should not be breaking the rules they agreed to. Ulitmately it comes down to - if you don't like the customer service, quality of goods, or store policies don't give them your business. A local gas station recently changed how they handle debit cards - no longer accepting them at "pay at the pump", you have to go to the cashier. I don't like using it as a CC at the pumps because they require no signature or pin, just swipe and anyone could use my card. Since I prefer the convience of using my card at the pump I no longer go there. Plenty of other gas stations nearby that offer me that convenience. Minor thing but its my choice in how I want to do business. Same thing goes with minimum purchases for CC usage. No they shouldn't break the rules, but if you don't like their policies don't give them your business.

Now for a bit of a flip side. The company I work for manufactures industrial equipment costing thousands, sever hundred thousand dollars. We accept CC's as a from of payment. We cringe anytime one of these large purchases is paid for using a CC because of the % we have to pay in fees for the processing. We're a small business so it eats up a big chunk of profit. Yes, its the same % big or small I believe but 1% of $1,000 is a lot less than 1% of $100,000. (Not sure of our exact percentages) Unfortunagely, its just one of the costs we have to pay to do business since many of our customers use corprate credit cards for their equipment. And if we accept it for one purchase, we have to accpet it for all.

 

[mill4023]

I don't believe it is illegal. It is illegal to refuse cash as it is the recognized legal form of payment in the US. For everything else, all bets are off. Credit card companies charge the business gigantic fees per transaction so I can understand them having a min. purchase. It is a bad business decision and I personally wouldn't buy there, but alas, I understand their point. You can contact your credit card company but I don't think they will do anything. Plus the vendor could always say they refused your card for any number of reasons (lack of signature, no id, etc) and the burden of proof would be on you. I think that your better solution is to call the manager or perhaps owner and state your case. Let them know how this poor business decision has affected your relationship with them and maybe it will make a difference.
~kim

That is incorrect. A private business is under no obligation to accept cash as payment.
Putting minimum charge requirements on a credit card transaction is not illegal, but it is a violation of the Visa and MC agreements. Same with surcharges. American Express does not specifically prohibit this, but they do prohibit merchants from treating Amex transactions differently from other credit card transactions. So if a business accepts Visa/MC and Amex, they cannot have surcharges or minimums on Amex transactions either.

You also mentioned lack of id. It is also a violation of Visa/MC policy to require ID. The merchant agreements state that a transaction (with a signed card), cannot be refused because the customer doesn't have ID. And actually, merchants are not allowed to accept unsigned cards, even if the customer has ID. So technically, those people who write "see ID" in place of a signature do not have valid cards and the merchant isn't supposed to accept them.

 

[Golf4food]

All this just because someone doesn't want to carry a few $$$ in cash with them. Do you keep the CC receipts the whole month to reconcile with the statement. I thought not. And one wonders how they get into CC debt.

Yes, we track our receipts and I record them as debit transactions in my budget spreadsheet and pay the CC off each month - it is a rewards card, so we get cash back for using it. Why not get cash back for things we were just putting on the debit card in the past? We've already gotten back over $150 in the 8 months or so we've had the rewards card. Great deal. I put that money towards the Credit Union credit card that we use to carry a balance for large purchases that can't be paid off immediately - root canal, crown, necessary house repair, etc. So the Mastercard is giving me "free" money to pay Visa.

I don't carry cash because I don't need cash in 99.9% of the places I visit - even the library accepts cards now to pay overdue fines! And since I can only easily get $20 at a time, and must pay a fee at most places to do that, and rarely need to spend $20 cash, we end up wasting $15 for a $5 purchase all because the place doesn't want to take a card.

That's OK - the ice cream place up the street takes cards, we'll just go there instead. No biggie.

 

[happygirl]

I always thought a business had the right to refuse payment from anyone anytime??

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

All this just because someone doesn't want to carry a few $$$ in cash with them. Do you keep the CC receipts the whole month to reconcile with the statement. I thought not.

Seems rather absurd that you believe that you know how everyone here handles their money.

I rarely carry any cash; it's far safer to pay using a credit or debit card. Plus if I pay with cash I have ZERO protection if something goes wrong; if I pay with a credit card, you can bet the CC company will back me up if there is a problem (AMEX has come through 100% in this regard).

Additionally, many cards are linked to a rewards program, cash is not. My 200,000 plus AMEX points have gotten me a lot of nice freebies!

 

[kbkids]

Seems rather absurd that you believe that you know how everyone here handles their money.

I rarely carry any cash; it's far safer to pay using a credit or debit card. Plus if I pay with cash I have ZERO protection if something goes wrong; if I pay with a credit card, you can bet the CC company will back me up if there is a problem (AMEX has come through 100% in this regard).

Additionally, many cards are linked to a rewards program, cash is not. My 200,000 plus AMEX points have gotten me a lot of nice freebies!

We're going to Disney in a few weeks for the price of gas alone. The entire trip was paid for by our reward points. Granted, we're building a house, and we've ran absolutely every construction fee possible through that card to get the points, so this wouldn't be typical, but I'm certainly willing to take that free trip. We pay our card off every month and have been doing so for years.

 

[Tazicket]

All this just because someone doesn't want to carry a few $$$ in cash with them. Do you keep the CC receipts the whole month to reconcile with the statement. I thought not. And one wonders how they get into CC debt.

Actually, we do keep track of all the CC receipts. We treat it like a debit card. Thank you for your concern over our credit situation.

 

[horseshowmom]

As a small business owner who does play by Visa's rules, yes. Please
report them. There are fees, but that is the cost of doing business
like advertising and utilities. Do I wish they were less? YES.
We pay for the convenience, but the certainty of money in
the account at day's end is better than waiting for a check to
clear/bounce or losing a client who prefers not to carry cash.

This would be my perspective also.

I would feel that I had a choice to either accept credit cards or not to accept credit cards. If I chose to accept them, that would be the end of it, and I wouldn't try to place my own limits on the purchases.

As you said, I would view it as the cost of doing business, and if I didn't want to accept those costs, I wouldn't accept credit cards.

 

[hddanis]

All this just because someone doesn't want to carry a few $$$ in cash with them. Do you keep the CC receipts the whole month to reconcile with the statement. I thought not. And one wonders how they get into CC debt.

Actually, yes, I do reconcile all of me receipts with my statement. But I don't save them all up until the end of the month. I download my activity and reconcile within Quicken on a daily basis...AND I pay off my CC balance every month.

I know where just about every penny of my money goes.

And I have over $1800 in Disney Reward points that I will be using next month. Thanks to a fence, a shed, new furniture for my house, McDonalds, Wal-Mart, the gas company, DirecTV, Amazon, EBay, Dunkin Donuts, EZPass, Netflix, Cingular, Verizon, Giant, Exxon, my vet, my Dr's office, Lowes, QVC, and every other place where I can use a CC instead of cash.

I don't like carrying cash, nor do I like paying the fees to take cash out of the bank. The only time I do have cash is if one of my tables (I'm a waitress at a high end hotel restraunt and it's usually room charged) tips me in cash, otherwise I see all of my tips in my paycheck every two weeks. Even when I do get cash, it normally gets deposited into the bank on my way home.

DH stops for coffee at Dunkin Donuts EVERY morning. When I was at my last job and DID have cash every day, it was never an issue, he'd pay cash for that. However when I switched to my new job and rarely had cash we ran into this problem. The Dunkin Donuts wouldn't charge purchases under $5. So I bought him a Dunkin Donuts gift card that gets automatically recharged any time it goes under $10...and it automatically get charged to my Visa.

 

[disneysteve]

All this just because someone doesn't want to carry a few $$$ in cash with them. Do you keep the CC receipts the whole month to reconcile with the statement. I thought not. And one wonders how they get into CC debt.

We use our CC for everything we possibly can. Our charges last year were nearly $32,000. We pay every bill in full every month. We have never paid a penny in interest or late fees or other charges. In the process, we have earned thousands of dollars in rewards. For example, we are going to New Hampshire this summer for vacation. We've got 10 free nights at Marriott hotels with our reward points.

So why should I pay cash and get nothing in return when I can use my CC and get free vacations?

 

[undertheradar]

That is incorrect. A private business is under no obligation to accept cash as payment.
Putting minimum charge requirements on a credit card transaction is not illegal, but it is a violation of the Visa and MC agreements. Same with surcharges. American Express does not specifically prohibit this, but they do prohibit merchants from treating Amex transactions differently from other credit card transactions. So if a business accepts Visa/MC and Amex, they cannot have surcharges or minimums on Amex transactions either.

You also mentioned lack of id. It is also a violation of Visa/MC policy to require ID. The merchant agreements state that a transaction (with a signed card), cannot be refused because the customer doesn't have ID. And actually, merchants are not allowed to accept unsigned cards, even if the customer has ID. So technically, those people who write "see ID" in place of a signature do not have valid cards and the merchant isn't supposed to accept them.

Where do you get this information? Without valid picture ID the merchant is unprotected from fraud! It is required and standard operating procedure to provide picture ID when using a card here in Ventura County, CA. Failure to provide the ID results in the refusal of sale by the merchant! It is not up to Visa/MC to dictate business procedures to the merchant. For a $4.00 sale the merchant is well within rights to refuse to honor the card. Redemption fees are based upon volume of sales transactions, not just the $4.00 sale. I am sure that the merchant won't lose any sleep over this lost customer, as there is nothing quicker than the merchant having cash in hand as opposed to waiting for the credit card deposit the next day. All of this is avoidable by planning ahead.

 

[WendyisDarling]

trying to sift through all this info. It has probably been answered, but I'd love to have a site I can specifically point to.
My parents and other family have a small business and decided to accept CC's. They didn't want to, but recognize in today's world, it is a must.
Mom told me the other day that they charge customers a fee to use a cc because they get charged. I told her that I was pretty sure you can't do that. She disagreed, so I find it interesting that this topic came up.
I don't want my parents to get into trouble, plus I like to right

 

[allison443]

We use our CC for everything we possibly can. Our charges last year were nearly $32,000. We pay every bill in full every month. We have never paid a penny in interest or late fees or other charges. In the process, we have earned thousands of dollars in rewards. For example, we are going to New Hampshire this summer for vacation. We've got 10 free nights at Marriott hotels with our reward points.

So why should I pay cash and get nothing in return when I can use my CC and get free vacations?

I'm sorry to say I just have a "regular" credit card-no rewards! Could people please post some of their cards that give good rewards? Like the one mentioned above, is it a Marriott visa? Please help! Thank you!

 

[cinamin27]

I thought I'd mention this since I dont remember reading this perspective on the other posts.
OP said they attempted to purchased icecream, I'm guessing something like cones or soft serve cups or something, something that is usually prepared in front of you then you go to the register to pay, when they went to pay, they were refused their payment because their purchase was under a certain amount, & probably for the fact that the small purchase came with a fee from the credit card company, like previously mentioned maybe something like 50c on a $4 purchase, even if it was a 50c fee, the fee is LESS than the price the icecream shop had lost by throwing away the icecream that was prepared for the OP & her husband! They couldnt give the same product to the next customers, so they lost MORE money by throwing away the icecream because it couldnt be purchased with a cc than what they would have paid to the CC company. Also, they risked loosing future profits by probably loosing a customer to future purchases. What a forward thinking business person should have done was accept the payment "this time" but advise the customer (the OP in this situation) of their minimum purchase policy for their future visits.

Now on to the next posting about someone being refused in the kitchen store, think about this too, it probably took maybe 5 minutes to ring this customer up, & then another 10-15 minutes to explain to this customer WHY they would not accept their cc payment and also to ring the "return", paperwork, etc. This Kitchen store pays their associate we'll say $6 per hour, it took the associate approximately 15-20 minutes for this single transaction (where they didnt even make any money at all because they refused the cc payment) thus making this transaction approximately $1.50-$2.00 based on the time it took & the associate's hourly pay. This transaction would have only cost the store $.50 for this transaction to get out the door based on a 5 minute checkout if they had just somply accepted the cc payment. This store paid its employee MORE to cancel this transaction rather than to pay the CC fee. Yes I know that the employee is paid to be there regardless of what they are doing, but that employee could have better spent their time doing other work or ringing more customers through the checkout than frustrating their customer & possibly other customers that may have also been waiting to check out while the return & paperwork was processed.

 

[cinamin27]

I also wanted to mention about Mcdonalds & them not having a minimum fee, this is smart in a way that was not mentioned.

I usually use the drive through when going to Mcdonalds, from my own experience I see that it takes them less time to swipe my card & immediately move me to the next window than what it would be for them to wait for me to get my cash out, look to see if I have the change in my wallet too, not just the $10 or $20 bill, & me wait to have to get my change back if I did not give them exact change & had it ready & waiting before I got to the payment window.

When McDonalds (or basically any fast food restaurant) can move their customers quickly in & out it not only makes a customer happy, it also possibly gains them more customers & profits by not having a customer leave once they see how long the line is. I know I've driven in & right out of a fast food parking lot if I see the line wrapped around the building....

 

[WendyisDarling]

I'm sorry to say I just have a "regular" credit card-no rewards! Could people please post some of their cards that give good rewards? Like the one mentioned above, is it a Marriott visa? Please help! Thank you!

I know you will get lots of answers to this one...

We are eligible for USAA and get cash back if we use our "check card". You can't use the debit feature for the cash back but must use as a cc. The purchase prices immediately are deducted from checking acct, just like a debit card. I get $7 - $10 /month deposited into my account depending upon my spending.

I also use Hilton Honors American Express. It is pretty easy to rack up points on this one. I use this mostly for big purchases, home improvements and Disney trips. I have enough points for a week of nice lodging for our entire non-Disney vacation this year. I pay this off at the end of each month. The interest rate is very high. Even though, I don't ever carry a balance, I hated seeing that outrageous 20% or something on my statement as the APR. I called and explained all other cards are low. Rep said it is high because of the rewards. Whatever, I pay it off.

I sometimes use MBNA LLBean. I mostly use this when I make a LLBean purchase so I can get free shipping or places that don't take Am Ex . Once in a while I will get a $10 LLBean GC for accumulating enough points. Also pay it in full each month.

 

[disneysteve]

I'm sorry to say I just have a "regular" credit card-no rewards! Could people please post some of their cards that give good rewards? Like the one mentioned above, is it a Marriott visa? Please help! Thank you!

We use a Marriott Premier Visa.

I have no idea why anyone would pick a non-rewards credit card (unless for some reason you didn't qualify for a rewards card).