Re: OT: Credit card policies (was Re: Dear Linkedin,)

[Stephen Sprunk <stephen () sprunk org>]

On 10-Jun-12 13:33, Jay Ashworth wrote:
> From: "Michael Thomas" <mike () mtcc com>
> > On 06/10/2012 11:22 AM, John T. Yocum wrote:
> > > A merchant can offer a cash discount.
> > I believe that the law just recently changed on that account. I
> > believe that what Barry says was the old reality.
> Perhaps, but Cash/Credit for gas dates back to before I moved to Florida in 1981.

Merchants have always been allowed to offer a cash discount.  The ban is
(was?) on surcharges for card purchases.  In practical terms, this means
that if you post only one price, it must be the card price, not the
(possibly lower) cash price.

> Even Further Off-Topic, isn't "debit" supposed to be "cash"?  Why do I pay the Credit price for it?

The "credit" price is subject to the merchant's discount rate,
regardless of the nature of the particular card used.  The "cash" price
is the part of the "credit" price left after the discount rate is applied.

Say gas is $4/gal and the merchant's discount rate is 4%.  That means
the merchant only gets paid $3.84/gal for card purchases.  If the
merchant charges cash customers $3.84/gal, which is legal, they get paid
the same amount of money.  However, it is illegal for the merchant to
post /only /a price of $3.84/gal and then charge card users $4/gal to
cover the card discount; that's an illegal surcharge.

S

-- 
Stephen Sprunk         "God does not play dice."  --Albert Einstein
CCIE #3723         "God is an inveterate gambler, and He throws the
K5SSS        dice at every possible opportunity." --Stephen Hawking

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