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Email this6:28 am
December 17, 2016
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More information than you need to know on the rules and regulations of Credit and Debit Card issuers with respect to merchant agreements
Point 5, in particular, caught my eye - I have yet to see the "Any discounts must be clearly marked at the point-of-sale." displayed at a merchant's check-out.
5. Payment card network rules will ensure that merchants will be allowed to provide discounts for different methods of payment (e.g. cash, debit card, credit card). Merchants will also be allowed to provide differential discounts among different payment card networks.
Discounts will be allowed for any payment method. As well, differential discounting will be permitted between payment card networks.
Any discounts must be clearly marked at the point-of-sale.
8:18 am
April 6, 2013
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Top It Up said
…
Point 5, in particular, caught my eye - I have yet to see the "Any discounts must be clearly marked at the point-of-sale." displayed at a merchant's check-out.…
That's because the merchant is pocketing the savings when the customer pays by cash or debit instead of credit.
Merchants have always been free to offer discounts at the check out off the shelf price. What they are prohibited by the agreements is to surcharge at the checkout for using a credit card.
Those rules and regulations regulate the credit card companies, not the merchants.
8:36 am
December 17, 2016
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Norman1 said
What they are prohibited by the agreements is to surcharge at the checkout for using a credit card.
Charging a service fee or a “convenience fee”
From Financial Consumer Agency of Canada
https://www.canada.ca/en/financial-consumer-agency/services/merchants/credit-fees-merchant.html
According to Visa, MasterCard and American Express merchant rules, merchants generally cannot charge you a service fee when consumers use their credit card. However, Visa, MasterCard and American Express permit eligible merchants to charge a service fee (also known as a convenience fee) for certain types of transactions.
Visa, MasterCard and American Express all require that the fee be clearly disclosed to cardholders before the transaction is completed and that cardholders are able to cancel the transaction without penalty.
Note that under the Code of Conduct for the Credit and Debit Card Industry in Canada, merchants may choose to offer discounts for different payment methods, but they are not required to do so.
Norman1 said
Those rules and regulations regulate the credit card companies, not the merchants.
Actually, the rules and regulations pertain to both the CC / DC issuers AND the merchants.
9:12 am
December 17, 2016
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Visa, MasterCard and American Express all require that the fee be clearly disclosed to cardholders before the transaction is completed and that cardholders are able to cancel the transaction without penalty.
UNLESS you have NO choice, as I didn't, while recently booking a Lufthansa flight online - from the Lufthansa website
OPC
For payments by credit card and PayPal, a charge (OPC) is incurred if the booked journey begins in one of the following countries: Germany (DE), Switzerland (CH), Belgium (BE), Finland (FI), the Netherlands (NL), the UK (GB), Ireland (IE), Denmark (DK), Poland (PL), Czech Republic (CZ) and Hungary (HU). The OPC is equal to 1.65 % of the relevant ticket price and is restricted to a maximum of 25 euros.
3:16 pm
April 6, 2013
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Top It Up said
Actually, the rules and regulations pertain to both the CC / DC issuers AND the merchants.
The Code of Conduct only applies to the "credit and debit card industry". The merchants are not part of that industry.
Those convenience fee requirements are not part of the Code of Conduct. They are restrictions in the merchant agreements that the card networks are still allowed to have under the Code.
The Code allows card networks to prohibit merchants from surcharging or charging convenience fees at checkout time. Unfortunately, it doesn't force the card networks to do so.
I've found the card networks quite open to allowing merchants charge an extra 50¢ or $1 convenience fee, not for using their card, but for using any debit or credit card.
3:39 pm
December 17, 2016
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Norman1 said
The Code of Conduct only applies to the "credit and debit card industry". The merchants are not part of that industry.
The Code of Conduct ALSO spells out merchants rights and recourse to actions or inactions of the CC / DC issuers under that Code.
From the cited link in Post 1, above
The Code applies to credit and debit card networks (referred to herein as payment card networks) and their participants (e.g. card issuers and acquirers).
4:08 pm
December 17, 2016
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Norman1 said
The Code allows card networks to prohibit merchants from surcharging or charging convenience fees at checkout time. Unfortunately, it doesn't force the card networks to do so.
Coming to a merchant near you, maybe (oh, and by the way, it reads like surcharges/convenience fees are an issuer directive to both networks and merchants - hard to believe a network, who is nothing more than an intermediary in a commercial transaction, would have the clout you continue to suggest.)
From the Canadian Press -
http://www.cp24.com/news/canad.....-1.3459355
Canadian merchants may soon start charging customers extra to pay with certain credit cards thanks to a settlement agreement in a class action suit.
The suit, which was filed in 2011, alleges that Visa and MasterCard rules forced merchants to accept all their credit cards, even ones that charged retailers higher fees. Those rules did not allow merchants to add a surcharge for customers who use these premium cards.
Visa and MasterCard both released statements saying they do not admit to any wrongdoing, but entered into a settlement agreement in the case earlier this week.
Both companies agreed to pay $19.5 million each and allow Canadian merchants to add surcharge fees on credit card payments. The revised rules will include a surcharge cap.
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A broadening of the surcharge discussion
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