新法令允許信用卡手續(xù)費轉(zhuǎn)嫁消費者

By Jasmine Bailey

A new law taking effect Sunday could require you to pay an extra fee whenever you use your credit card. KSWB has the details.

“The new law comes after a settlement between retailers， Visa， MasterCard， and nine major banks. Right now stores pay credit card companies up to 3% each time they swipe your card.”

So this new law allows but does not require， stores to pass that cost onto the you—the customer. Its being called a “check-out fee” and could 1）amount to up to 4% of your purchase. But， not everyone will have to worry about the fee.

星期天（2013年1月）開始生效的一項新法律可能要求你在刷信用卡時，支付額外的費用。下面是KSWB（譯者注：位于加州圣迭戈的福克斯電視臺下屬電視臺）電視臺帶來的詳細報道。

“新法規(guī)的出臺是基于零售商與維薩信用卡、萬事達信用卡，以及九家主要銀行達成的一項協(xié)議。現(xiàn)在，你每刷一次信用卡，商家就要給信用卡公司最高可達3%的額外費用?！?/p>

因此，這項新法規(guī)允許，但不強求，商家把那部分費用轉(zhuǎn)嫁到你——也就是消費者的身上。這叫“刷卡手續(xù)費”，最高能達到你消費金額的4%。但是，并不是所有人都得擔心這項收費。

Ten states prohibit credit card surcharges—California， Colorado， Connecticut， Florida， Kansas， Maine， Massachusetts， New York， Oklahoma， and Texas.

You also dont need to worry if youre paying by debit card， American Express， or Discover card.

The president of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts told the Boston Herald—even if you dont find yourself excluded from the list of those who wont see the fee， not every store will be 2）implementing it.

“He doesnt expect stores or restaurants to start surcharging...for a fear of alienating price-sensitive customers. Rather， he expects service providers with‘captive customers—hospitals， doctors offices and airlines—to 3）impose the fees.”

But if you do find yourself having to pay an extra fee， the director of consumer education at credit.com gave ABC News some advice. She said：

“‘Always have a backup method of payment…Have a debit card， or slip extra $20 in your wallet.You can also let the merchant know you object to the new charge. ‘If enough consumers complain， a merchant will fear losing business and wont choose to pass the charge along.”

By law， merchants intending to pass the cost along will have to post notices at check out informing consumers of the extra charge. Online merchants will have to post a similar notice to their home page.

有十個州禁止信用卡附加費——包括加利福尼亞州、科羅拉多州、康涅狄格州、佛羅里達州、堪薩斯州、緬因州、馬薩諸塞州、紐約州、俄克拉何馬州，以及德克薩斯州。

如果你使用借記卡、運通卡和發(fā)現(xiàn)卡來付款，你也不必擔心額外費用。

馬薩諸塞州的零售商協(xié)會主席告訴《波士頓先驅(qū)報》：即使你不在免交附加費之列，也并不是每個商家都會執(zhí)行這項法令。

“他預(yù)料商店或是飯店不會開始實施附加收費，因為擔心這樣會趕走那些對價格敏感的客人。他估計那些擁有‘趕不走的客源的服務(wù)供應(yīng)商——像是醫(yī)院、診所和航空公司——會收取這樣的費用。”

那如果你發(fā)現(xiàn)自己不得不支付額外費用，credit.com網(wǎng)站的消費者教育主管向ABC新聞的觀眾支招。她說：

“‘總是有兩手準備……帶一張借記卡，或是塞一張20元在錢包里。你也可以讓店主知道你不愿意支付額外的費用?！绻凶銐蚨嗟念櫩捅г?，那么店主就會因害怕流失客源而不會選擇轉(zhuǎn)嫁費用。”

按照法律規(guī)定，如果店主要轉(zhuǎn)嫁費用，必須在收銀臺張貼出公示，告訴顧客此事。網(wǎng)上店鋪也必須在他們的首頁貼出相關(guān)公示。