Credit Card Transaction Convenience Fees

SPECIFICALLY - When you are charged an additional fee because you paid by credit card as opposed to cash or check.

As with everything, it is all about the "trick wording" used in the legal world.

Convenience fees - defined as charges levied for the privilege of paying for a product or service using an alternative payment, or a payment method that is not standard for the merchant.

Surcharges - defined as costs added simply for the privilege of using a credit card.

A Rose by any other name, right? Wrong, not in the legal world. Depending on the words that the merchant uses, they can get out of liability for sticking you with an extra fee because you paid by credit card.

In legal terms, convenience fees are not surcharges. The trick is to imply that the extra charge is a "convenience fee" and it not only applies to payment by credit card, but also to payment by any means other than the standard payment types the merchant accepts. Again, it is all in the words used.

CARD NETWORK CONVENIENCE FEE POLICIES

• Updated 2019

Visa

According to Visa’s policy, certain criteria must be met in order for a merchant to charge a convenience fee:

   The payment must take place across an alternative payment channel, such as online or by phone.
   Customers must be told about the fee in advance, or it must be clearly disclosed.
   The fee must be a flat or fixed price rather than a percentage of the sale.

However, tax payments don’t have to meet all of those criteria. “While Visa regulations prohibit merchants from applying surcharges to normal transactions, we do permit our cards to be used for tax payments together with a convenience fee,” a Visa spokesman said. The reasons for this distinction: Income taxes are government mandates, and federal statute prohibits the Internal Revenue Service from paying the costs associated with credit card acceptance, the spokesman added.

Mastercard

Like Visa, Mastercard outlaws surcharges. However, in 2008, the company created the Mastercard Convenience Fee Program for government agencies and educational institutions that were not accepting card payments at the time.

“It was an effort for us to make sure that we were providing consumers with that choice in how they wanted to pay,” said Mastercard spokesman Seth Eisen. Since the organizations can charge convenience fees, the cost of accepting credit cards is less prohibitive. However, they still must offer an alternative payment channel. Mastercard leaves the fee structure — whether it’s fixed, tiered or a percentage — up to the organizations in the program.

American Express

“Select transactions do qualify for convenience fees, including taxes and tuition,” says Molly Faust, a spokeswoman for American Express. “However, a merchant must provide an actual convenience in the form of payment, for example, online payment, interactive voice response or a payment kiosk. The fee must also be clearly disclosed before the transaction is completed.”

Discover

While Discover doesn’t have an official convenience fee policy, it requires that all credit cards be treated the same, said Katie Allmaras, a spokeswoman for Discover. As a result, the rules instituted by the other card issuers would apply to Discover since a merchant cannot levy a fee on a Discover cardholder that it isn’t allowed to impose on a Mastercard, Visa or American Express cardholder.