July 14th, 2009 by Stinkhead
I work in Washington DC and many of the merchants I come across post their Minimum Credit Card Purchase policy. I’ve tried to buy a $2 chocolate milk with my debit card and been told that I have to spend at least [$10] to use my credit card. Thanks to reading the The Consumerist I know that it is against the store’s Merchant Agreement to demand a minimum purchase.
I’ve found the online verbage for MasterCard and Visa in their publicly available, online Merchant Agreements, and read it myself. But now I’ve been declined one sale too many, so I am making up this little wallet card that I can produce the next time a merchant tells me to go buy more crap, just to justify their credit card charges. But then I thought, as good dads who teach children to be responsible consumers, you would appreciate this card too. So download this PDF, cut it out, (laminate it if you have a dirty wallet), carry it next to your cards, and whip it out the next time you need to purchase one $3 pacifier, and you’re saving your cash for the ice cream truck. In addition to keeping the cash in your wallet, you will be able to easily track those small (and often deductible) purchases. Between MasterCard statements and free IRS efile, you will thank yourself in April.
Tell me your tales of woe, have you succesfully made a purchase UNDER their minimum after explaining that its against their merchant agreement? Let me know in the comments.
And feel free to link to this article, tell your friends…
 |
Posted in advice, crafts, DIY, good deals, gripe, how to | 13 Comments »
September 8th, 2009 at 5:51 pm
[…] with stores not knowing the rules for credit card purchases, Andy at NonToxicReviews created this handy credit-card-sized PDF of the relevant portions of Visa’s and MasterCard’s merchant […]
September 8th, 2009 at 5:52 pm
[…] Click for the stuff […]
September 8th, 2009 at 11:08 pm
[…] a blog is turning the tables on credit card agreement scofflaws. NonToxicReviews has designed clippable, wallet-sized cards bearing the relevant rules. You can hand them to those […]
September 8th, 2009 at 11:58 pm
[…] with stores not knowing the rules for credit card purchases, Andy at NonToxicReviews created this handy credit-card-sized PDF of the relevant portions of Visa’s and MasterCard’s merchant […]
September 9th, 2009 at 6:28 am
[…] be helpful for some… NonToxicReviews Blog Archive Don’t fall for Minimum Credit Card Purchases again __________________ XD40SC (his) Kahr PM9 (hers) Walther P22 (ours) http://www.bradandkittie.com […]
September 9th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
[…] to this post on NonToxicReviews and their link to a handy, credit card-sized .pdf for your wallet, you can now argue the point with […]
September 10th, 2009 at 11:03 am
[…] the point, but in my experience, the merchant always backs down. Non-Toxic Reviews has a handy wallet-ready summery of the VISA and MasterCard contracts that you can cite if […]
September 10th, 2009 at 5:04 pm
[…] NonToxicReviews provides a nice wallet-size card you can print out with the appropriate section of the agreement as well as a phone number to call to report violations. […]
September 16th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
[…] Print and cut the little handy card thing above that I got from nontoxicreviews.com. […]
September 16th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
[…] Print and cut the little handy card thing above that I got from nontoxicreviews.com. […]
September 21st, 2009 at 8:11 pm
[…] I was on Micheal Finney’s Consumer Talk on KGO 810 AM. We discussed my free downloadable Wallet Cards that contain the actual text from Visa and Mastercard’s Purchase Agreements stating that it […]
October 30th, 2009 at 1:00 am
[…] This post at nontoxicreviews.com goes into more detail and also has a handy wallet-sized card you can print out and carry with you. Share and Enjoy: […]
March 1st, 2010 at 11:18 pm
[…] NonToxicReviews » Blog Archive » Don’t fall for Minimum Credit Card Purchases again. […]