For several years, businesses that have been processing credit cards have been charged a fee for each transaction that took place. The fee would be a percentage amount of the total purchase plus a standard fee based on the type of credit card that was being used by the customer. The fees also varied by the merchant accounts the businesses have. The fees that used to be charged to the business are now being passed on to the customers in some areas.
There are several states that are allowing businesses to decide if they would like to pass the credit card fees on to their customers. This way they can profit even more from each of the transactions they process. The fees that will be charged to the customer is only going to be for major credit cards that are ran through as a credit. The business is required to notify their customer that the fee will be charged and show up on their statement.
If the customer does not want to pay for the fee, they will need to either pay with a debit card and enter their pin number or pay with cash or a check. Some cards, such as pre-paid cards, will not be charged a fee when they are ran as a credit. When a pre-paid card is used, the business will still have to cover the credit card processing fees for that transaction.
The states that do not offer the option to pass the fee on to the customers include: Florida, Connecticut, Oklahoma, California, Colorado, Texas, Kansas, Massachusetts, New York, and Maine. All of the other states will give businesses the choice to charge their customer the credit card processing fee or not.
Businesses will need to make the decision for their store regarding the fees in order to set up their merchant accounts properly. The processing fees may seem small, but they can add up quickly over-time. The business will be able to save more money over a period of time and earn more profits for their business when they pass the fees to their customers. Businesses will still be able to run reports from their merchant accounts on the fees they are charged from the pre-paid and debit cards. The reports will be able to show the businesses an average of what types of cards their customers are using on a daily basis.