Surprise: Stores can't set credit card minimum

Herb Weisbaum • Profile • E-mail

We all have to pop into a convenience store every now and again to get a carton of milk or some coffee. But some readers are wondering can such stores charge a fee to customers who use their debit or credit cards for such small purchases.

There are many convenience stores that charge small fees for using a debit or credit card when customers do not spend a certain dollar amount. For example, one store said they would charge me $0.75 if I used my Visa debit card to buy a soda, because I did not spend enough. I told the store clerk that she cannot impose a minimum purchase requirement when I used my Visa card and she simply laughed at me. Or was I wrong?
Keiko C.

You are correct. Merchants accepting Visa or MasterCard credit or debit cards are not allowed to set a minimum amount for using the card; that is a violation of the merchant agreement.

"People want to use their cards for smaller ticket transactions,” MasterCard’s Barbara Coleman tells me, and the credit card companies want to make sure they can.

Even so, as you found out, some stores try to impose a limit. What can you do? In your case, you can report the merchant to the financial institution that issued your Visa card.

You raised another interesting question. Can a merchant charge you a service fee for using a credit card or debit card? There is no federal regulation that prohibits this. The law that prohibited a surcharge on credit card purchases expired back in 1984. Both Visa and MasterCard allow a merchant to offer a discount to customers who pay by cash or check, but  in most cases they say, a merchant cannot charge more for putting it on plastic -- that would be a violation of the merchant agreement. I've asked the credit card companies for specific information about when an exception to this surcharge rule is permitted and I hope to write more about that in a future column.

Note: This service fee rule does not cover paying your federal income tax by credit card. A “convenience charge” is permitted on these tax payment transactions.

I bought a DVD burner for my computer about a month and a half ago from an online retailer. It was defective and the company had me return it for a refund. They acknowledged receiving it and sent me e-mails saying that a credit had been approved, but it’s been more than a month and the credit is still not posted to my credit card account. What resources are open to me?
Burton S.

While patience is a virtue, you should have gotten that credit by now. According to Carol Reynolds at the Federal Trade Commission, if a merchant accepts the return of property and agrees to give you a credit, “the merchant is required to send that credit information to the credit card company within 7 business days of acceptance.” Federal regulations give the credit card company another 3 business days to post that credit to your account.

What can you do? Contact the merchant and let them know that if the credit isn’t posted to your account right away, you will challenge the original charge as a “billing error” with your credit card company. Your monthly credit card statement explains how to do that. To protect your rights, you need to make that complaint in writing – even if you start the process on the phone. You might also want to file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission at www.ftc.gov.

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