Is it legal to charge customers a credit card service fee in Texas?

You are correct. I am not going to believe this. You are a mind reader!!!

 

IIRC it is also against the Service Agreement to refuse to accept credit cards on purchase under a threshold,
e.g. "credit cards are not accepted on purchases of less than $5" violates the Service Agreement.

 

Don't they charge that because that is what MC charges them? I have tried the same with house payments etc...as I would like to charge them and get the points, but at 2.5% it is not worth it.

DD

 

Thats why trying to buy things just for the points is stupid. There are better ways to earn 1%.

 

Imagine collecting 2% of all grocery sales forever because you got this gift. This **** should be a flat fee per transaction instead of percent based.

 

Why isnt there a greater adoption with digital currency?

 

It's not stupid if there isn't a surcharge

 

If you have to buy a thing, why not get 'cash back'?

• 6% at grocery stores via Amex (really around 5% after I max out at $600 and subtract the $95 yearly fee)
  • Top that off with Kroger Points, sometimes 4x for buying gift cards, and you get an even higher discount by buying gas at their gas stations
• 5% at Amazon via Chase Prime Card
• 5% at Lowes via their store card
• 3%+ via various CCs for gas
• 2.5% through September on everything else with my Citi Doublecash
• 2% on other things via a few other cards

I know you said 'just for points' but there are other reasons to consider:

• As of right now, for tax purposes, 'cash back' crediting your account is considered a discount and non-taxable income.
• And you also get an additional warranty with several of these cards.

 

There is no surcharge with cryptos because you can't buy anything.

 

I agree with this for the most part, but it depends on people's situation. I have crunched a lot of numbers and my biggest "bang for the buck" is to get miles on United and use those miles for tickets and upgrades (especially international upgrades). It tends to come out to more "dollars" than most cash back offers. Of course, not looking so good this year when we aren't flying anywhere.

 

Thats a LOT of management to simply bring in a few points.

I use a CC for a couple of reasons. The first and foremost is to insulate my cash from the outside world. Lets sum it up as 'fraud insurance'. I also selected a card that has great fraud prevention, which includes auto reject of fraudulent transactions, text/email alerts for transactions, notifications of balance threshhold and text reminders if I get close to my due date. Extremely low maintenance. I never pay an annual fee, finance charges or late fees.

I also get a couple little perks, including warranty's, towing and 1.5% 'cash' back.

Points: First and foremost, I don't get 1.5% cash back. What i get is a split of merchant fees collected by the CC company. These same fees are typically already built into the price of whatever I purchased. So really, I am getting 1.5% back from my original purchase. Sure, there are merchants who try to tack on the fee after, but that is pretty rare.

I am not trying to belittle anyone when I say this, but if a couple points is important to me, I can find other ways to save... Like ordering water instead of an ice tea/soda. There is also the subliminal draw to purchase things you ordinarily wouldn't purchase if you didnt have that particular card.

I put quite a bit of money on my company's AMEX card. One day I told the owner it would be nice if I could put it on my personal card and get reimbursed so I could get the points. He told me to knock myself out. If I wanted to manage, finance and take the risk of the company's debt for 1.5%, that is a great deal for him.

I wont chase anything under 5%. If a CC wants to throw me a little pocket change to finance and take the risk of my debt, Im not going to say no. But I will also not allow it to determine my purchasing decisions.

 

If you scale it, the work/reward ratio is very good. I just pay for everything via CC and pay it off immediately. I guess it just comes down to practice and how quick you are at mental calculations.

I forgot to add that there are CCs that give you 5% off office supplies as well. And telecom, and streaming services, etc.

Good point on the fraud protection. That's another pro. And towing, didn't even think of that.

@Supermac34 I find the CCs play games with mileage and devalue the points. It's harder to keep track IMO. I don't really like to travel, though. It would be a different case if I did. And I think getting 'free' travel is a different taxable item so I haven't touched it.