BERGEN COUNTY ? Garden State shoppers were smarting Sunday when some stores began imposing a 1-4 percent fee for the use of a credit card.

The new surcharge, which applies to retailers in most states, allows them to pass the cost of processing credit card transactions onto the consumer. But a measure before the New Jersey Senate would put a stop to the additional fees.

Senate bill S-2533 would make it illegal for retailers to impose a surcharge on customers who pay with a credit card. Under the law, stores that did impost the fee would be subject to a $10,000 fine for the first offense

"Retailers have already built the cost of credit card fees into their prices,? Senator Robert Gordon, a Bergen Democrat, said in a statement. "This change in regulation is in essence allowing retailers to double-dip into their customers's pockets ? customers who are already paying interest fees to the credit card companies for their purchases."

The bill, sponsored by Gordon and Senators Jim Whelan and Nia H. Gill, will be heard during a Feb. 4 hearing of the Senate's commerce committee.

The new fee structure is the result of a $7.25 billion settlement reached last year between major credit card companies and banks and millions of retailers. It does not apply to debit cards.

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That amounts to at least a 5% surcharge - so they're already failing to abide by the rules/law. The difference is only 10 cents, but I guess over the course of a month's transactions that will add up. I understand that it's tough being a small retailer, and I always pay cash, especially for small transactions. But mom & pop stores aren't doing themselves any favors when they nickel and dime customers like that.

I saw a real life example of how this is being applied this morning at the deli. Sign at the register said "credit card purchases under $10; $0.50 extra charge."

I'm not sure if that's a totally legal application of the new rule, but I think the point is that the store is only adding a fee for charges under a certain amount. For a long time now, many stores have had a minimum credit card charge of $10 - 20 anyway, without the option of paying $0.50 for the convenience (which by the way is still less than an ATM fee).

I agree that this will most likely affect only small stores, and I also expect that it will often apply only up to a certain minimum amount, where it makes sense to waive the fee.

Also, regarding Amex not allowing the fee. Stores can still charge it on Visa and MC; all they have to do is not accept Amex at all, which many small stores do now, anyway.

Is this just for brick and mortar will it apply to phone, catalog, and internet sales as well ?

The mom and pop retailers are the ones most likely to use the surcharge. My bigger concern is whether they'll abide by the disclosure rules. I wouldn't be surprised if some try to sneak in the surcharge without the proper signage. A lot of these stores already require a minimum purchase amount for credit cards, even though they're not supposed to.

One very important point that people seem to have missed is that American Express cards are not included in the settlement, so no such charge is allowed for AMEX transactions by the settlement. And, as a result, most merchants will not be able to charge the extra fee for Visa/MC transactions because the settlement also stipulates that any merchants wanting to charge any fees will need to do so for all credit cards accepted (not just Visa/MC) and since the AMEX terms of service prohibit any such fees, most merchants will be legally unable to charge the extra fee at all.

Another very important point from the settlement is that it stipulates that any merchant imposing any extra fees, will have to do so across all of their stores (they can NOT selectively choose to do so in one market and not other). And, because about 10 different states (NY is one of them, but not NJ) prohibit merchants from charging any additional fees, any retailers with outlets in one of those states will also be legally unable to impose any additional fees.

In other words, NO MAJOR RETAILER will be imposing extra fees. This settlement is really only applicable to small vendors, and only those that only accept Visa and Mastercard.

I would prefer that merchants gave customers a discount for using cash..but then again, doesn't hamdling cash have its expenses

To JM poster#6: Just as different stores charge different prices even at a few pennies higher, it factors in additional costs such as the credit card fees. Now that there is an allowance for these fees the stores may indeed notify the cusotmer about the new fee charge for credit card use along with the already "hidden" fee that has been tacked on all these years. The end user/consumer never knows the underlying theme of the costs of doing business.

Like any reasonable small business owner, I work the fees that credit card companies charge into my overall product charge. More than 70% of my customers use credit cards to pay for their purchases.

I would never think to add an additional 4% charge to cover these costs, just like I would never add an extra fee for bags, insurance, cost of materials, etc.

Just like I don't use gas stations that charge extra for credit card use, I won't visit a store that would tack on a 4% fee that should already be considered a cost of doing business in 2013.

This is one of the more poorly written topic headers I've seen in quite a while. New Jersey isn't charging anything. It should read "Stores in New Jersey and Other States to Will be allowed to Begin Charging Extra Fees on Visa and Mastercard Purchases." New Jersey isn't charging anyone anything with regards to this topic.

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"Merchants who want to start charging extra have to take a couple of steps to warn consumers about the change. They will have to post a sign at their storefront announcing the extra fee. They?ll also have to disclose the fee at the checkout counter and on the receipt, according to the EPC."

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/natio ... e-1.1248759#ixzz2JEBI6bpa

All I can say is merchants better make their policies clearly visible or they're going to have hordes of angry customers. This charge has always been considered the price they pay for the business they would not have if they only took cash.

The real winners will be the debit card industry, which will explode to suck up the customers pissed about this. Debits have a completely different fee structure. I wonder how this affects online sales, if at all?

this seems like the business is screwing the customer, however, it's really just a recovery of the fee charged to them by the credit card companies.

Unfortunately, New Jersey is one of the states charging surcharge on your credit cards Visa and MC usage. Some say they will charge 4%. So don't be shocked if you see your bills with retail cost plus surcharge of 4% (approx) as your total starting today!


http://www.nydailynews.com/news/natio ... y-cards-article-1.1248759

MasterCard and Visa credit card users might see a surcharge of up to 4 percent on their receipts
Merchants are allowed to add an extra fee to credit card purchases starting Jan. 27. The surcharge is the result of a class-action lawsuit brought by major retailers against MasterCard, Visa, and several other banks and credit institutions.