By now, cash discount pos systems ?ve probably become aware of the rising popularity of Cash Discount programs as a way to offset your merchant service fees. A Cash Discount program is a method of implementing something fee to all customers who pay with a card, while providing a discount to those that pay with cash. Cash Discount programs are legal in all 50 states per the Durbin Amendment (section of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Law), which states that companies are permitted to offer a discount to customers being an incentive for paying with cash. While this sort of program has been utilized by gas stations for a long time now (displaying cash prices), there is still confusion on how best to implement a Cash Discount program the proper way.
Guidelines and Requirements
The card associations have strict guidelines on what a Cash Discount program must be implemented. The fundamental steps being 1) Correct signage should be posted at the door to check out 2) The amount of the added service fee should be clearly displayed on the receipt and 3) Offering your visitors a cash discount verbally. Even though gasoline stations post different prices, as a retailer it is not necessary to achieve this. The posted prices are considered cash prices and the signage allows for a fee if the payment is not made with cash. To become compliant, merchants with a Cash Discount Program need to display the Base Quantity of the transaction, the Cash Discount, and the Total Cost of the transaction on the customers? receipt (see below).
Applying the Service Fee
Without the proprietary technology programmed into your terminals, you would have to manually apply the service fee. But if a fee is incorrectly applied to a transaction, the additional fee charged to customers will be called a Surcharge which is prohibited in 10 states (California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, NY, Oklahoma, and Texas). If the fee isn’t a Cash Discount and is deemed as a Surcharge, even though allowed in a state, has strict requirements on the quantity of the Surcharge. As a merchant, you need to register with Visa/MasterCard so as to legally apply the surcharge. A Cash Discount Program has no necessary registration.
Technology
It is also important to note that you’re forbidden by Visa, Mastercard, as well as your processor?s rules to profit on credit cards transaction, which could happen if you accidentally charged a lot more than you were charged by your processor. While many processors may provide a Cash Discount program, not absolutely all of them offer and utilize the compliant technology that’s appropriate for your terminals. A significant difference we’ve seen while looking at the providers across the industry may be the Cash Discount line item. Many providers offer a program without the Cash Discount line item showing on the receipt. It’s important that when looking at processors, they are proclaiming to offer you a compliant program with capable technology to show the mandatory line items on the receipt.