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Canadian businesses can now charge credit card fees
October 5, 2022
7:56 am
Briguy
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Starting Oct 6 businesses can charge a fee for customers paying with credit cards.

October 5, 2022
8:57 am
Bruford
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Uh Oh, there goes all the CC perks down the drain.

October 5, 2022
8:58 am
Bruford
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If you own CC stocks, SELL SELL SELL

October 5, 2022
9:19 am
dougjp
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Let them try. Nothing has changed except a regulation since 'yesterday'. Price gouging won't come free. Do it, and buh-by. sf-yell

"Keep your stick on the ice. Remember, I'm pulling for you. We're all in this together." - Red Green

October 5, 2022
10:26 am
Dean
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.
Telus was one of the first ones out of the gate. Starting October 17th, they're adding 1.5% + Tax, to all bills paid by credit card.

You Can Bet ... 'Many' more are sure to follow. sf-confused

    Dean

sf-cool " Live Long, Healthy ... And Prosper! " sf-cool

October 5, 2022
10:37 am
Briguy
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I might be forced to pay bills of companies like Telus in the future with Can Tire bill pay to avoid the upcharge. For now it's possible to switch companies if we really object to the credit card surcharge.

October 5, 2022
10:41 am
dougjp
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Dean said
.
Telus was one of the first ones out of the gate. Starting October 17th, they're adding 1.5% + Tax, to all bills paid by credit card.

You Can Bet ... 'Many' more are sure to follow. sf-confused

    Dean

  

Sure, predictable, gouging, given things like credit card fees, loyalty points etc. have been priced into the product pricing for years. So is Telus reducing the cash or direct account debit or Interac debit paid prices of their products by 1.5% ?

A great opportunity for Companies to gain new customers here.

"Keep your stick on the ice. Remember, I'm pulling for you. We're all in this together." - Red Green

October 5, 2022
11:06 am
Dean
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sf-cool " Live Long, Healthy ... And Prosper! " sf-cool

October 5, 2022
11:26 am
dougjp
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Dean said
.
More details ... read and weep

Dean  

Mostly old news, except that I learned that Quebec HAS (unlike the other Provinces?) consumer protection laws.... 😉 The others and/or the CRTC could force an offset product price reduction for cash/debit, but likely will just approve of the price gouging, at the most inappropriate time in our economy I might add.

"Keep your stick on the ice. Remember, I'm pulling for you. We're all in this together." - Red Green

October 5, 2022
11:48 am
Dean
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.
But then again, some say this is; 'Much To Do, About Not Much At All' . . .

.
Time will tell, eh.

    Dean

sf-cool " Live Long, Healthy ... And Prosper! " sf-cool

October 5, 2022
11:58 am
HermanH
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Years ago, I remember asking about the ability to add a CC surcharge onto bills and was bluntly told by MC and Visa that I would not be allowed to do so. If I wanted to use their services, I had to eat the cost. Of course, the merchants found a work-around solution by simply raising prices (that included CC fees) and then offering the same percentage discount for Cash.

October 5, 2022
2:05 pm
Loonie
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Upmarket boutique grocery store Summerhill Market in Toronto has said they will not charge a fee because their customers would not put up with it and would go elsewhere.

Many indebted consumers, on the other hand, rely on credit cards for extended credit and wouldn't be able to pay cash or debit so may be stuck with the fees.

It will take a while for this to shake out. Make no mistake; we've been paying for the perqs all along, hidden in prices; now we'll just pay more, in fees. Sadly, I think we can safely assume prices won't go down to balance the imposition of fees.

October 5, 2022
4:12 pm
savemoresaveoften
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Will be interesting how prem credit card issuer will do. Makes no sense any more to pay $200 annual fee to have the privilege to get charged another 1-3% to use it !

October 5, 2022
5:28 pm
Norman1
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There's no need to both surcharge and embed the credit card costs in the shelf price. As Loonie mentioned, we've been paying the credit card costs all along. It is not like the merchants have been absorbing the costs and not embedding them in their prices.

Merchants can just continue as they have and disingenuously say they are not charging extra!

October 5, 2022
6:49 pm
Bruford
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Quite honestly, it looks like the beginning of the end for credit cards. Funny how this seems to dovetail into a cashless society and forced digital currency implementation.

October 5, 2022
10:47 pm
BlueSky
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At the end of the day, those who charge the transaction fee will lose customers. The credit card industry will look at a contraction, long term, as consumers will dump extra cc they hold for specific program perks that will not be worth them while no more. Consolidation.
I have a policy, to stay away from greedy corporations. I don't do any business with Telus, but IMO, it would definitely fall into that category.

October 6, 2022
1:52 am
RetirEd
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I concur: we have always been made to cover credit-card fees in the price structure, That's why the greedhounds are making us so angry at this.

I eventually came to terms with it when cash-back benefits were introduced, as the percentages were small. Now I can't believe that anyone is using the food-delivery leeches that take about 30% from the restaurants (on top of delivery fees and tips), which most surely drives restaurant prices up significantly. While the delivery parasites do allow restaurants to have different prices on delivery and dine-in/take-out menus, almost none do - not even those who provide their own delivery services but also accept delivery-parasite orders. I imagine that's in part because most of their pandemic-era business came from delivery. (BC had a temporary 15% rakeoff cap for part of the pandemic, but some of the parasites added a "BC fee" to the customer's bill.)

When Telus started charging a paper-invoice fee, they ignored my complaints. They did respond to a threat of regulatory intervention, though, and dropped the fee. Since they called it a voluntary decrease, they never refunded the fee for the two or three months it was in effect.

I'm not clear in my memory whether Wealth One Bank charged a simple, more reasonable monthly paper-invoice fee or what ended up with what they described as a mandatory minimum $5 fee for ANYTHING mailed to the customer. That was why I dropped them and moved my cash out as the first GIC matured. Has anyone any recent info on that policy?

HermanH: I haven't been into Credit Card processing agreements, but I had always expected that cash discounts were also prohibited by the agreements. The catch is that while the card processors can always see an extra fee charged, and thus enforce the no-surcharge rule, they never know about a cash transaction and can't respond.

I have only ever seen a cash discount at one or two little computer stores or ethnic grocers, who acted like I was getting a special deal and told me not to mention it to anyone else.
RetirEd

RetirEd

October 6, 2022
2:46 am
HermanH
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RetirEd said
Now I can't believe that anyone is using the food-delivery leeches that take about 30% from the restaurants (on top of delivery fees and tips), which most surely drives restaurant prices up significantly. While the delivery parasites do allow restaurants to have different prices on delivery and dine-in/take-out menus, almost none do - not even those who provide their own delivery services but also accept delivery-parasite orders. I imagine that's in part because most of their pandemic-era business came from delivery. (BC had a temporary 15% rakeoff cap for part of the pandemic, but some of the parasites added a "BC fee" to the customer's bill.)

I can't believe that some folks aren't even aware that different prices exist for app and restaurant. Moreover, I think that most just don't care about delivery fees or other charges. They simply want what they want when they want it. They piss and moan about not having any money or that house and rent prices rise, but never for a moment realize that they could easily halve their food expenses.

RetirEd said
HermanH: I haven't been into Credit Card processing agreements, but I had always expected that cash discounts were also prohibited by the agreements. The catch is that while the card processors can always see an extra fee charged, and thus enforce the no-surcharge rule, they never know about a cash transaction and can't respond.

No way they can track a cash discount. You simply collect less, when you type in the form of payment at the register. It was a looong time ago, but I seem to remember even checking it out with Visa.

October 6, 2022
5:06 am
savemoresaveoften
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Norman1 said
There's no need to both surcharge and embed the credit card costs in the shelf price. As Loonie mentioned, we've been paying the credit card costs all along. It is not like the merchants have been absorbing the costs and not embedding them in their prices.

Merchants can just continue as they have and disingenuously say they are not charging extra!  

What is stopping them to "make" a business also add the surcharge even tho its already "embedded" in their pricing. Who doesn't want an extra 2% profit....

To REtired, lots of youngster pay the Food app premium for the convenience. They are well aware of the 20-30% premium PLUS app fee PLUS delivery. (There are regularly promo run by Uber Eats that ends up netting out the fee etc) You will be surprised and yet they complain salary too low, housing prices too high, blah blah...

October 6, 2022
5:18 am
Norman1
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RetirEd said
…I haven't been into Credit Card processing agreements, but I had always expected that cash discounts were also prohibited by the agreements. The catch is that while the card processors can always see an extra fee charged, and thus enforce the no-surcharge rule, they never know about a cash transaction and can't respond.

Cash discounts off the actual shelf price have always been permitted.

Its those disingenuous cash discounts off the shelf price + surcharge that are prohibited. That's right: Some sleazy merchants will add a surcharge at the checkout and then offer a "discount" if one pays by cash! Visa Says Cash Discount Programs Violate Network Rules describes the situation.

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