eff fees

nothing drives me nuts like extra fees (actually lots of things drive me nuts, but the topic of my blog today and this book is fees). baggage fees, local number portability fees, fuel surcharges, etc., etc. basically all these fees are normal costs of doing business which companies like to pretend are add-ons or some extraordinary cost that they should not have to pay for. why don't they just add this into the price of the service you are paying for? because this way they can advertise a lower price and then make it up by tacking on fees.

today, outraged by the fact that i had to pay a fee to pay my stupid living in arlington fee (personal property tax) by credit card, i sent an email to mastercard and called the arlington comissioner of revenue to let them know they were in violation of their merchant agreement. if you didn't know, it's against the mastercard (and i presume visa) merchant agreements for a merchant who accepts credit cards to charge a fee to the customer for using them. this is essentially why you don't see gas stations (or shouldn't) that have different credit and cash prices anymore. it says so right here in paragraph 5.9.2. it states:

5.9.2 Charges to Cardholders A Merchant must not directly or indirectly require any Cardholder to pay a surcharge or any part of any Merchant discount or any contemporaneous finance charge in connection with a Transaction. A Merchant may provide a discount to its customers for cash payments. A Merchant is permitted to charge a fee (such as a bona fide commission, postage, expedited service or convenience fees, and the like) if the fee is imposed on all like transactions regardless of the form of payment used, or as the Corporation has expressly permitted in writing. For purposes of this Rule: A surcharge is any fee charged in connection with a Transaction that is not charged if another payment method is used. The Merchant discount fee is any fee a Merchant pays to an Acquirer so that the Acquirer will acquire the Transactions of the Merchant

there are a few possible outcomes to the ball i have set rolling:

1. nothing
2. the extra fees are removed
   
3. the extra fees are removed and everyone's property tax bill in arlington goes up by $3 next year to cover the costs of removing the fees (sorry guys)

also, for the record, the $10 minimum charge at your favorite chinese carryout place is also a violation of their merchant agreement. though i'm not so upset about these because they are typically mom and pop type places and i don't mind and i pretty much always get at least $10 worth of food anyway.

5.9.3 Minimum/Maximum Transaction Amount Prohibited A Merchant must not require, or indicate that it requires, a minimum or maximum Transaction amount to accept a valid and properly presented Card.