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Is it legal for a small business to charge a fee to ...

Sent to Business Law Experts June 16 2008 at 11:12 AM
   

Is it legal for a small business to charge a fee to customers using credit cards as long as it is posted and each customer is made aware of the fee verbally prior to using the card?

Customer (name blocked for privacy)
Status:  Closed   Value: $24
Answer
June 16 2008 at 11:30 AM (18 minutes and 13 seconds later)
         
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I don't see any reason it is not legal (meaning that there is a law against it.)

However, credit card companies may try to prevent it with their agreements with the merchants. For example, Visa has policies. Generally, they are more open to merchants offering discounts for cash than for charging a fee to use the credit card. Probably amounts to the same thing but that is their policy.

You might read:

http://usa.visa.com/download/merchants/card_acceptance_guide.pdf

at page 10.

I hope this helps.




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