4

I am referring to this question. My situation is similar, except that I am in Malaysia rather than US.

In US it is understood that

it's part of their merchant agreement that they can not charge a fee for a customer paying with credit card.

However, is this agreement extensible to other countries? For your information, I have a Master and an AMEX card. When I wanted to purchase electronics goods, the shops would often charge me 3% extra, ostensibly to cover the credit card cost. I quarreled with them a few times, but they just shrugged me off by saying that everyone was doing the same thing.

Is there anyway I can force them to comply with their own agreement with the credit card merchants? Or is the above agreement only applicable in US?

Improve this question
1
  • The US rule was cast down under anti-trust laws a few years ago. It turns out to be not that relevant because few merchants take check. But some people use debit cards (which have their own fees) so it was of moderate use. I've seen a few places with higher fees for credit cards than debit.
    – Joshua
    Commented Nov 22, 2022 at 2:46

5 Answers 5

Reset to default
4

I don't know what the official rule is, but I've found that outside the USA it is a common practice to charge extra on credit card transactions. I've personally seen credit card surcharges in Europe, Latin America and Japan.

Improve this answer
1
  • Visa and MasterCard have different agreements elsewhere in the world. I know that in Europe they have no restrictions on not upcharging for using a credit card.
    – theo
    Commented Aug 27, 2010 at 14:42
3

Even in the US, many gas stations charge extra for credit card purchases. (In Connecticut, credit card surcharges seem the rule rather than the exception.) They may position it as a "cash discount", but it amounts to the same thing.

Improve this answer
2

In a word: No.

I would check with the individual card issuers and local laws. You cannot assume that the same agreement applies in other countries. (Maybe someone here will know the particulars for Malaysia.) Not to mention that there was a recent change to US laws regarding this issue.

I would also reread the question you linked, focusing on this particular answer

  • Credit card companies can no longer prohibit merchants from requiring a minimum purchase amount to use a credit card. Meaning: That if merchants want to, they can now stop taking credit cards for a $4 latte.

  • Credit card companies can no longer prohibit merchants from giving discounts for cash.

Improve this answer
1

It would depend on the local regulations. In India, merchants cannot charge more for credit card transactions for most of the cases, the exemption being in cases like

  • Jewellary its charged more

  • Fuel at petrol pumps

  • Hospital Bills

And some other such places where the key arugment is that since the margins on the goods is less, they cannot aditionally afford to pay the 2-3% credit card charges.

Improve this answer
1

The service my school uses to handle credit card tuition payments charges a 2.5% fee. I've only assumed that's not illegal ...

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .