Comments on CreditMattersBlog.com: Paying With Cash Could Soon Pay Off

If you have $100 in your wallet, you’d most probab...

2010-05-25T17:44:15.210-04:00

If you have $100 in your wallet, you’d most probably spend it just because it’s there.
The whole concept of settling with a cash-only budget is that when you run out of cash, you do not resort to using other forms of payment; meaning you do not use credit cards but stick to the cash only budget you’ve set up. Let’s put it this way … Maybe you could do with a $50 weekly budget for food,

There are protection for debit cards. By the way ...

2009-06-27T23:55:18.099-04:00

There are protection for debit cards. By the way merchants can charge for pin transaction when using a debit card unless it is against state law. A few bank also charge a pin transaction fee but most do not.

Anonymous its all about perception. If you put sur...

2009-05-15T05:03:00.000-04:00

Anonymous its all about perception. If you put surcharges on credit, credit will be construed as to be more expensive and consumers are less likely to whip out their card. If you are giving discounts for cash then it looks almost like a coupon. Its easier for the retailer to mark up 3% then mark down every item 3% even though the mechanics are basically the same.

Also, Australia

It's a simple mathematical statement that a discou...

2009-05-14T23:59:00.000-04:00

It's a simple mathematical statement that a discount for X is equivalent to a surcharge for not X. Discounts for cash should be prohibited in merchant agreements just as surcharges are.

I live in a state where Gas stations are allowed t...

2009-05-14T23:51:00.000-04:00

I live in a state where Gas stations are allowed to give a cash discount.

What a joke! There is no discount for cash. Instead, the stations are simply charging more for the use of a credit card.

Whatever they choose to call it, under this sytem, you are paying to use your credit card.

You make a good argument azntg. A great one actua...

2009-05-14T21:37:00.000-04:00

You make a good argument azntg. A great one actually. Let me read it again in the morning and see if I can still stand behind my statement.

This is one of those proposed populist legislation...

2009-05-14T18:13:00.000-04:00

This is one of those proposed populist legislation that pretends to benefit the small merchant and the consumer while actually benefitting nobody.

In an ideal world, the merchants will take the initiative to pass the savings onto cash paying customers upon the bill's passage. Unfortunately, very recent history (I'm talking about events and investigations that occured less than two

@ Anonymous: "I think the "chargeback" portion of...

2009-05-14T14:57:00.000-04:00

@ Anonymous:

"I think the "chargeback" portion of this RARELY works out for the consumer."

I may have been one of the RARE ones, but in a whole different way: I was being stonewalled on a refund for a product I had returned. The sale was made by one company, but serviced by another. The selling company went out of business. I disputed the charge with the bank, they called me

"BlackDiamond you are completely wrong. Cash disco...

2009-05-14T14:49:00.000-04:00

"BlackDiamond you are completely wrong. Cash discounts are allowed."

Anonymous is right. Doing the research: you can't charge a surcharge for credit card fees, but you can provide a clearly stated cash discount.

C.R.E.A.M.

2009-05-14T14:44:00.000-04:00

C.R.E.A.M.

I think the "chargeback" portion of this RARELY wo...

2009-05-14T12:47:00.000-04:00

I think the "chargeback" portion of this RARELY works out for the consumer. With the noteable exception of American Exress, if you use a Visa or Mastercard, you're screwed with a chargeback on both credit and debit cards.

I'm all for giving small merchants a break. I'm ha...

2009-05-14T12:31:00.000-04:00

I'm all for giving small merchants a break. I'm happy to keep them in business. But don't think any merchants will actually lower prices if their cc transaction costs were to eventually decline. Besides, as a consumer I enjoy the protection of using a credit (not debit) card, for those times a merchant won't accept a defective product back, etc. Of course, the banks are the ones with the most

BlackDiamond you are completely wrong. Cash discou...

2009-05-14T12:12:00.000-04:00

BlackDiamond you are completely wrong. Cash discounts are allowed.

The government is stepping in and trying to restri...

2009-05-14T11:06:00.000-04:00

The government is stepping in and trying to restrict processors from preventing retailers from offering cash discounts and the like. Offering a cash discount violates the merchant terms of service.

What are they saying? That because it costs money ...

2009-05-14T10:59:00.000-04:00

What are they saying? That because it costs money to process credit cards, that government wants to give a discount to the people who pay with cash?

Merchants can't offer a cash discount OR a minimum...

2009-05-14T10:20:00.000-04:00

Merchants can't offer a cash discount OR a minimum credit card purchase without violating their merchant account agreement. We still do, however, at least the minimum purchase thing, since it's not really enforceable. They've bent us over and the least we can do is struggle a bit.

How much do merchants pay? It's a moving target as the rates continually rise with no recourse other than

"I can't think of a single other item the merchant...

2009-05-14T10:16:00.000-04:00

"I can't think of a single other item the merchant purchases for resale where the merchant can't set the selling price."

This is not correct. Manufacturers and vendors do set minimum price agreements for retailers.

Please Washington Post story on Supreme Court decision allowing this practice: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/28/AR2007062802370.

Merchants can offer a discount for cash, now. They...

2009-05-14T10:07:00.000-04:00

Merchants can offer a discount for cash, now. They just can't add a surcharge for credit/debit cards, and the "hidden inflators" include a number of benefits, including the ability to charge back when merchandise is faulty and the merchant will not take a return. Also, many cards come with additional benefits like automatic warranty extensions, etc. The fact that most consumers don't pay

How is giving the consumer a choice a bad thing? ...

2009-05-14T08:42:00.000-04:00

How is giving the consumer a choice a bad thing? In this case the consumer is the merchant, consuming the product (credit card transaction access) and reselling it to the end consumers.

I can't think of a single other item the merchant purchases for resale where the merchant can't set the selling price.

If a merchant could add a percentage and/or require a minimum sale to

It's not just the credit card companies that have ...

2009-05-14T07:53:00.000-04:00

It's not just the credit card companies that have an incentive to keep people using plastic; it's the companies themselves, who see higher spending per transaction when credit cards are used and gain easily queries transactional information for data mining as well as the government, who through First Data and the like are sitting on an investigative gold mine because of the use of plastic. I

I think debit cards are a whole different kind of ...

2009-05-14T07:34:00.000-04:00

I think debit cards are a whole different kind of rip-off, and their use entails another set of pitfalls and "gotchas" that politicians like to rail against in the case of credit cards.

The way things are going, responsible users of credit cards are likely to lose in order for people to be protected from themselves -- and the purported beneficiaries of this protection will just find

Who exactly is making the money here? I mean, we ...

2009-05-14T02:06:00.000-04:00

Who exactly is making the money here?

I mean, we know that retailers benefit despite the fees they pay, because study after study shows that people spend more when using plastic (either debit or credit).

And I assume that the card-issuing bank or credit union sees some of those merchant fees as well, since without that we wouldn't see all these banks offering excellent

As a small retailer, I fail to see the benefits of...

2009-05-14T01:50:00.000-04:00

As a small retailer, I fail to see the benefits of this monopoly that continually raises fees while offering little in the way of service.

Good guess, Marcus. This will not become law.

2009-05-14T01:48:00.000-04:00

Good guess, Marcus. This will not become law.