charge for buying with credit card

scottish_lassy

I am going to buy a car this weekend and was hoping to use my credit card to get my points. When I contacted a well known car salesroom to enquire whether this was possible, they said there would be a 1.5% charge for use of card.

Is this legal. Using Mr Google I see a new European law went through on 15 March capping charges at 0.3%.

Does anyone know if this is the case? - just want to know where I stand before starting negotiations.

vouch0r

legal? lots of places charge a % for card use. even my work offering of gift cards charges about that

k3lvc

scottish_lassy wrote: »

Using Mr Google I see a new European law went through on 15 March capping charges at 0.3%

Have you a link to this ?

scottish_lassy

Hope this works

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cardsloans/article-2988113/European-lawmakers-vote-cap-debit-credit-card-fees-0-2-cent.html

molerat

k3lvc wrote: »

Have you a link to this ?

Lots of links on Google and a big thread on here about cards dropping cash back due to it ........ but ......... the rules do not come in to force until October. Retailers can make reasonable charges and 1.5% seems quite reasonable at present.

scottish_lassy

Thank you all. Glad I checked

SL

JimmyTheWig

As well as points, it does bring the possibility of stoozing.

scottish_lassy

I had considered stoozing as well. Half of purchase on points card and other half on my 0% card. Just don't know if the 1.5% charge cancels out any benefit as I think my ISA (where money would come from) is on a bonus rate bringing it up to around 1,5%. Will need to go and check all my accounts to see if figures add up.

JimmyTheWig

scottish_lassy wrote: »

I had considered stoozing as well. Half of purchase on points card and other half on my 0% card.

Why not apply for a 0% BT card?
Spend on your points card then shift the balance before it is due.
Get the points plus the stooz.
Obviously be aware of BT fees, but there are various options these days for 0% interest with 0% fees.

It's what I did when we bought a new car recently.
[Plus I asked them nicely and they waived the credit card surcharge for me!]

pooch

scottish_lassy wrote: »

I am going to buy a car this weekend and was hoping to use my credit card to get my points. When I contacted a well known car salesroom to enquire whether this was possible, they said there would be a 1.5% charge for use of card.

Is this legal. Using Mr Google I see a new European law went through on 15 March capping charges at 0.3%.

Does anyone know if this is the case? - just want to know where I stand before starting negotiations.

Have the lower fees actually been introduced yet?
And when it does happen, will the buyer benefit?

This MSE report suggests probably not on both counts
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/cards/2015/03/eu-agrees-card-charges-shake-up-but-will-shoppers-actually-pay-less

pooch

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

...[Plus I asked them nicely and they waived the credit card surcharge for me!]

I preferred the extra £500 off, (about 5%) they gave me when I offered cash.

(I didn't actually pay in unmarked, used tenners & twenties, but once we agreed the price, I then negotiated on a mutually acceptable payment method - they could have had the notes if they wanted, but that was as much of a security risk to them as it would be to me, and would probably have cost them more to process than a credit card anyway.)