Did Your Credit Card Fees Just Go Up?

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Proud Texan

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I just received a message from my Credit Card processing service stating that the verification rates for card present and card not present were going up for Mastercard. Also, Discover is raising some of their fees.
Just curious to know if this was Mastercard sticking it to everyone or just customers of my particular service.
 
Oh you can probably expect all sorts of increases now that new credit laws have gone into effect. They will stick it to us any way they can so their profits won't go down :-(
 
Oh you can probably expect all sorts of increases now that new credit laws have gone into effect. They will stick it to us any way they can so their profits won't go down :-(.
catlady said:
Oh you can probably expect all sorts of increases now that new credit laws have gone into effect. They will stick it to us any way they can so their profits won't go down :-(
Yes, I heard on the news that since they've now outlawed many unfair charges the card companies were levying on folks, the card companies are just coming up with new types of charges that aren't yet outlawed. There's no end to what they can come up with, and raising merchants fees is an easy one for them.
 
This just stinks, Obama did such a good job of getting rid of card fees for cosumers that now the processors are just going to dump them on us and we really don't have much choice, I barely have a guest that does not use SOME type of reward or cash back card and we pay higher fees on those, swiped or not
I was looking over some numbers the other day (yah right after bankruptcy court) and was horrified at the "total" I pay over a year for these fees, it doesn't hurt that much when you only look at it montly ... but when you look at the annual total - gulp.
I used to sell cc processing so I know I have a good rate (but it still suxx) but for those of you that have not had a rate review with a new processor I recommend you do so .... and don't agree to montly minimums or any junk fees, there should only be your batch settlement fee + your per transaction fee - and look CLOSELY at Tier 2 and Tier 3 (like rewards cards or non swiped cards for those of you that process advance deposits)
If you have a machine that can process cards as DEBIT and the guest gives you the option, then use that, your fees are MUCH lower .....
 
It is one of the reasons we still take cheques as we don't have to pay for them and I try and take debit cards or cash when I can. The big money hog is American EXpress which I won't take unless they really don't have anything else. I have the ability to take it on my card machine as sometimes we get is as a guarantee and wouldn't want not to be able to charge it if they cancel otherwise I say no we don't take it as the fee is 5% of the transation.
 
With all the cc changes of late, can we now offer a discount for cash or check? We'd come out better in the long run if these fees keep going out of control.
 
With all the cc changes of late, can we now offer a discount for cash or check? We'd come out better in the long run if these fees keep going out of control..
Proud Texan said:
With all the cc changes of late, can we now offer a discount for cash or check? We'd come out better in the long run if these fees keep going out of control.
You've always been able to give a cash discount, you just can't charge more if they are paying by cc.
 
With all the cc changes of late, can we now offer a discount for cash or check? We'd come out better in the long run if these fees keep going out of control..
Proud Texan said:
With all the cc changes of late, can we now offer a discount for cash or check? We'd come out better in the long run if these fees keep going out of control.
You've always been able to give a cash discount, you just can't charge more if they are paying by cc.
.
Breakfast Diva said:
Proud Texan said:
With all the cc changes of late, can we now offer a discount for cash or check? We'd come out better in the long run if these fees keep going out of control.
You've always been able to give a cash discount, you just can't charge more if they are paying by cc.
Since most of our customers pay with CC, you could just raise your rates overall and it has the same effect. The problem comes if you are priced at the top of your market and you can't raise them.
 
It's all a deduction at the end of the year anyway so it doesn't really matter, just raise your rates to cover the difference, or implement the cancellation fee as we have to cover this.
 
You dang well know that when companies add a "service charge" or "shipping and handling" charge that they are padding the cost of doing business with credit cards. It's stupid that we can't do the same without having to raise our prices in order to give a cash discount.
 
With all the cc changes of late, can we now offer a discount for cash or check? We'd come out better in the long run if these fees keep going out of control..
Proud Texan said:
With all the cc changes of late, can we now offer a discount for cash or check? We'd come out better in the long run if these fees keep going out of control.
You've always been able to give a cash discount, you just can't charge more if they are paying by cc.
.
Breakfast Diva said:
Proud Texan said:
With all the cc changes of late, can we now offer a discount for cash or check? We'd come out better in the long run if these fees keep going out of control.
You've always been able to give a cash discount, you just can't charge more if they are paying by cc.
I think the new credit card regs do away with this so you now can charge whatever you like. Using a credit card? There is now a fee. You can also decline to take rewards cards. Adding a cancellation fee could more than cover the additional rate increases if you get a lot of cancellations. Around here, it would amount to something on the lines of $2500 if we charged $25 for each cancellation. Add a baggge handling fee.
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