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You may have noticed many local restaurants set a minimum price necessary when paying with a credit or debit card.
What you may not know, however, is Mastercard and Visa prohibit member merchants from setting a minimum price for payment with their cards.
The minimum amount a patron must spend at La Familia, Nuebies or PJ's Grill & Pizza to be able to pay with a credit or debit card at is $6.00. At Skinny Vinnie's it's $7.50.
Paulie's Pizza on Easton Avenue and Gotta Go Pizza & Subs on Church Street have each set their minimum amount for card payment at $10.00. Neither of those two restaurants charges a card-use fee.
"The reason why we do have the minimum $10 delivery purchase is because we have to somehow make up for the fact that the bank charges us ten cents for each card we swipe. For pick-up and with frequent customers the minimum purchase is usually less, around $5.00," said Cesar Ruiz, owner of Gotta Go Pizza & Subs.
Nuebies Manager Sam Zake had a similar perspective. "We are charged between twenty and fifty cents each time we make a credit card transaction," he said, "So by requiring a minimum balance, we minimize cost by reducing the number of those transactions that have to be made. Also, it makes things easier for the cashier and more convenient for customers because there isn't a line of people all waiting to buy individual slices with credit cards, which could take a while."
Visa and MasterCard both prohibit merchants who accept their cards from requiring minimum payments for use of the cards. They also prohibit merchants from charging usage fees unless those fees apply to all tender - such as cash and checks - as well.
American Express and Discover discourage minimum payments but do not prohibit them.
Barbara Coleman, the vice president of Communications at MasterCard, explained the prohibition.
"The purpose of our cards is to make purchases convenient to consumers," Coleman said.
A cardholder who is required to make a minimum purchase before being able to use a MasterCard credit card at a given establishment can report it to the company by filling out a form on their Web site, MasterCard.com, she said.
Several students said they resented the fees.
"Its annoying that I have to pay a certain amount for my food because I don't have cash with me, when I could buy whatever amount I wanted if I wasn't using my card," said Lauren Coffey, a Rutgers College freshman and frequent customer at La Familia, "But its hard for me to be upset with the restaurant, because they do have it posted on the menu."
Douglass College freshman Ashley Kozlowski agreed.
"Its something that I've just started to accept," Kozlowski said.
"Since most of these places have similar minimums, it feels unavoidable. But it does upset me that I'm paying money that I probably wouldn't be spending if it wasn't required."
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