Have you tried to use a credit card in a mini-mart recently? As if the hidden fees that go with credit cards weren’t bad enough, now add the insult of being charged a “convenience fee” for simply using them. Convenience fees? Really?
A convenience fee is an additional charge that some merchants try to tack on to purchases made with a credit card. They are popping up everywhere, especially in mini-marts. The fee is usually small – 50 to 75 cents for each transaction – but whatever the fee is, it’s too much!
OK, here’s the lowdown. Convenience fees are illegal in the following states:
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Florida
Kansas
Maine
Massachusetts
New York
Oklahoma
Texas
What can you do? If you live in any of those states, bust the stores that charge the fee. Contact your state Attorney General. Take a picture of the sign for convenience fees and we will post them. Enjoy the idea of busting them for the convenience of trying to scam you.
But convenience fees aren’t the only way merchants have found to take more money out of your pockets. If you want to pay with a credit card, more stores are requiring you to make a minimum $10 purchase .
So there you are in the check-out line, seeing the items add up to $9.50 .You have to step out of line and get another item you really never wanted in order to be able to use your credit card. Thanks, but no thanks.
What can you do? Because of recent legislation, not much. Before 2010, the minimum purchase requirement was illegal in many places. Guess what your Congress did to you? Buried in the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Protection Act (and yes, you know you are screwed by any law that has “reform” in its name) is a new rule for credit cards. On page 698, Congress legalized the $10 minimum to use your credit card. So yes, you are stuck buying an unwanted bag of Cheetos or an extra Slim Jim to make the $10 minimum.
As for the mini-marts of the world, a spokesman said, “ From our perspective, we haven’t seen a big negative reaction from customers. They understand.”
Yes, customers know when they have been screwed. So watch out consumers, and if you are in a state where the added “convenience fees” are illegal, bust the stores let us know.
