Today, on my way home from school, I stopped at this Shell gas station to get a drink. As I viewed the array of beverages I noticed that only a couple had signs indicating the price, both of which were over my $1.55 cash budget. I asked the employee "Are there any diet drinks that are under $1.55?". He told me that all drinks were at least $1.75, other than the .99 cent, non-diet, child size, "Little Hugs". So, I got my Visa debit card out of my car and paid for a diet peach Snapple. I was a little surprised when the subtotal came to $2.15 for one drink but I paid it anyway and asked for the receipt. When I got into my car I looked over my receipt and saw that I was charged .20 cents for a "credit/debit fee". I hadn't ever heard of this fee, unlike some of the other financial disadvantages I've experienced from trying to make purchases with my debit/credit card, such as a store requiring a minimum five to ten dollar purchase or being charged ten cents more per gallon than the advertised gas price. My intuition told me that something wasn't right about this "credit/debit fee" that I was charged and after doing some research, my instinct proved to be true. Visa states that "Retailers are permitted to apply a surcharge to only credit card purchases and cannot impose a surcharge for purchases made using a debit or prepaid card.". So, by Shell charging me twenty cents for paying with my debit card they are ultimately stealing from me. As Visa highly suggests doing, I will be reporting these unjust charges to my debit card company and hopefully others will begin reporting these criminals as well. The following Visa website gives info about the laws retailers are supposed to follow when applying surcharges and other constituents to credit/debit card purchases:
http://usa.visa.com/personal/get-help/checkout-fees.jsp read more
