Helpful Credit Card Hint

Apreche

I just ran into a semi-common problem and used my superior knowledge to avoid it. Let me recall this anecdote so you can do the same when you encounter this trouble.

For lunch we went to a cafe. It's a typical New York lunch place called The Duke Cafe. I normally buy lunch with cash, but I didn't have any. I decided to pay by credit card. They told me they wouldn't take it because they had a minimum charge of $10. I told them they have to take it. They said there is no law, that is their store policy. I told them that according to their Visa contract they must take the card, and that I would leave the food there and file a complaint if they didn't take my card. They took my card.

Here is the relevant text from the Visa website. I'm 99% sure Master Card, Discover and everyone else have similar policies.

Minimum Purchase

Visa merchants are not permitted to establish minimum transaction amounts, even on sale items. They also are not permitted to charge you a fee when you want to use your Visa card.

If you run into a problem like this with a merchant, please notify the financial institution that issued you your Visa card. These institutions have access to the appropriate Visa rules and regulations and can help you document and file your complaint. You'll find their address and/or telephone number on your Visa statement. Their telephone number may also appear on the back of the card itself.

If anyone ever tries to pull this minimum purchase crap, give them as hard a time as you possibly can. If they don't take your card, don't buy anything from them and leave. File a complaint with your credit card company whether or not they accepted your card in the end.

Remember, the way credit cards work is that whenever you use one, the store you use it at must pay a fee to your credit card company. Your credit card company would never allow any limitation on you using your card. They want you to use it as much as possible. If a store is caught not letting you use your card, they could have their right to accept cards taken away all together.

That concludes this handy public service announcement. Good day.

Andrew

Could you post the source of the text?

Apreche

http://www.usa.visa.com/about_visa/ask_visa/index.html?it=h2|/|Ask%20Visa#anchor_4

Josh Bytes

I've yet to encounter a business requiring a minimum charge in order to use my card. I have dealt with business mostly small Mom and Pop restaurants that charge me a fee to use my card though. It's ranged anywhere from 50 cents to 1 dollar. I'm assuming that check cards also apply to those conditions? That's what I carry around and use mostly.

Kite

The only places that I know that have a $10 minimum rule are small local chinese restaurants and many of them are barely keeping afloat so I don't mind paying in cash if their food is good. But I'll keep this info handy if any decent sized business tried to pull that crap on me ^^

tuttle88

When EFTPOS first became widespread there was a $10 minimum purchase, I don't know if it was legal or not but most of the time it didn't matter. Not many places still do it now, I think the $10 mark is the point where the fee the bank charges the business can be offset by profit. I am basing this on no hard knowledge whatsoever.

mkg12

Cool, I didn't know that.

Rym

RIT always tried to pull this crap at Crossroads, and I often got into arguments with the cashiers...