…As States Prepare Legislation to Ban Credit Card Surcharges
The New Jersey Senate Commerce committee passed a measure to prevent retail merchants from levying a credit card transaction processing fee while also agreeing to let gas stations continue their practice of charging variable prices for cash and credit purchases. Retailers who impose a surcharge on credit card-paying customers would face as much as $20,000 in fines. The bill was put forward in response to reports that merchants are now allowed to charge a 1-4 percent fee as part of a settlement to a class-action lawsuit against Visa and MasterCard filed by retailers over the interchange fees they pay. However, merchant-representing industry groups say few store owners plan to surcharge customers because it threatens to alienate them. The bill was revised so that fuel merchants could continue to charge less for cash transactions, with the price differential considered a cash discount for customers since it represents the average fee fuel merchants pay credit card firms per gallon of gas. A similar prohibition on credit card retail surcharges has been proposed by a lawmaker in Rhode Island, while Massachusetts, Connecticut, and several other states already ban the practice.
From “Senate Panel Advances Ban on Credit Card Fees by Retail Merchants”
New Jersey Star-Ledger (02/04/13) Beeson, Ed