Merchant Surcharges for Debit and Credit Card Payments

nm8883

Apologies if this question has been asked before.

I live in a small, fairly remote village in Cornwall. The nearest shop is about a mile away and the nearest cash-point is approximately 2 miles away.

The shop in question is a typical convenience store and also happens to be the nearest Pay point (for electric etc).

I know a lot of these shops have a minimum spend for debit or credit card payments (Normally £5-£10). However, this particular shop charges 50p on EVERY transaction for paying by card, regardless of the amount spent.

Does anyone know if this is legal?

I try to avoid using this shop for exactly this reason, as I rarely carry cash on me. It's surprisingly infuriating when I go to put £30 of electric on my key, and spend £10-20 on other bits and pieces, yet they still decided to charge me 50p for using my card.

JuicyJesus

Surcharges may only be in proportion to the fee charged by the shop's merchant acquirer. However the only remedy is to sue and you'd also need to prove that the shop is somehow overcharging, which are both going to be more of a ball ache than it's particularly worth (acquirer fees for debit card purchases range between 20p-50p, credit cards are a percentage that ranges depending on the card network with Amex being higher than Visa and MasterCard.)

Suing the only grocery store local to a remote village in Cornwall is also not likely to make you popular with them or your neighbours - they have a captive market and probably know this.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/452405/BIS-15-343-BIS-payment-surcharges-guidance.pdf

IanManc

I'd suggest that you get in touch with Cornwall Council's trading standards department, as they are responsible for making sure that the regulations are adhered to. Then the trader can try to justify to them why he's making a blanket charge of 50p when he's only allowed to recover his costs. For debit cards there is a charge by banks per transaction which I believe is about 20p for chip and pin transactions but is supposed to be less for contactless which is why some shops try to push you to use it, and for credit cards traders pay a percentage of a transaction, which cannot be 50p in every case.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/cards/2013/04/credit-and-debit-card-fee-clampdown-begins

jonesMUFCforever

Sorry Ian but your information is out of date.
Most debit card transactions are now charged on a % basis same as a credit card.
So if you spend low then you might pay more ie 50p but if you spend a lot then 50p might be cheaper for you.

As for trading standards the imprtant thing here is that they advise you in advance of the charge and therefore give you the option of paying cash or card. So IMO they won't be interested.

agrinnall

If you don't want to pay the 50p then answer is to pay cash, it's your decision not to carry cash so simply make a different decision. It's a non issue, and you'll be wasting everybody's time if you try to pursue this.

JuicyJesus

agrinnall wrote: »

If you don't want to pay the 50p then answer is to pay cash, it's your decision not to carry cash so simply make a different decision. It's a non issue, and you'll be wasting everybody's time if you try to pursue this.

See, I don't think being aggrieved by it is silly - it would p*ss me off too since I stick everything through cards, and from what the OP says getting cash out is impossible since the nearest ATM is 2 miles away.

However enforcing it is going to be disproportionately expensive and, with these little communities like they are, going to make the OP toxic in the local area for suing the local business. So unfortunately his options are either walk/drive 2 miles and get some cash out or pay 50p a transaction.

Shakin_Steve

I don't think 2 miles is very far to travel, say, once a week. Most ATM's will give you up to £300 and, surely, that's enough for your trips to the local shop.

simongregson

It might be better just to talk to the store owner and let him know that you avoid their shop due to the inconvenience, and that you might spend more there if they did not charge. A lot of stores find that the cost of accepting cards is outweighed by the extra money many people spend when they are not limited by the cash in their wallet.

agrinnall

JuicyJesus wrote: »

See, I don't think being aggrieved by it is silly - it would p*ss me off too since I stick everything through cards, and from what the OP says getting cash out is impossible since the nearest ATM is 2 miles away.

However enforcing it is going to be disproportionately expensive and, with these little communities like they are, going to make the OP toxic in the local area for suing the local business. So unfortunately his options are either walk/drive 2 miles and get some cash out or pay 50p a transaction.

Impossible seems something of an exaggeration. My nearest ATM used to be 10 miles away, I never had any great difficulty making sure I didn't run out of cash.