New Credit Card Settlement Brings New Fees For Customers

American Express customers and some states are exempt from the new fees.

Starting Sunday, many merchants will be free to impose a surcharge on customers paying with a credit card. The new surcharge comes as a result of a $7.2 billion settlement reached last summer between credit card companies and merchants. Gerri Detweiler, director of consumer education at Credit.com, doesn’t expect there to be too many merchants that will exercise this right at first but the number could grow.

The amount legally permissible will be between 1.5 percent and 4 percent of a purchase price. American Express customers don’t need to worry: AmEx’s contract with retailers forbid imposing a surcharge. Also, ten states prohibit credit card surcharges: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Oklahoma and Texas. (ABC News)

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