Consumer Fraud Wrote:
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> Also, do not support 'cash only' businesses! They
> most likely commit tax fraud. Also companies that
> only accept debit/credit cards with a minimum
> purchase amount to cover there expenses are in
> violation of their agreements with the banks that
> issue these cards.
You are incorrect on both counts.
Accepting cash vs credit cards has absolutely no bearing on not filing accurate taxes. The ways you are caught skimming/not reporting has nothing to do with accepting or not accepting credit cards.
The minimum purchase amount thing is probably the most commonly mistaken thing out there anymore.
Minimum purchase amounts
USED to be forbidden by the credit card issuers but that was changed a couple of years ago with the Financial Reform Act to allow retailers to have up to a $10 minimum charge amount.
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/financial-reform-credit-card/story?id=11036335
FWIW...
It costs a retailer 3 different times to accept a credit card (swipe fee, batch fee & interchange rate fee). Two of those three are set on a percentage of the total transaction amount (batch & interchange) and the swipe fee is a flat rate fee currently hovering around 25 cents per swipe for independant small businesses.
The swipe fee & the batch processing fee are charged by the credit card processing company, the interchange rate is charged by the credit card company. A retailer actually has to pay the credit card company a slice of the sale of every product bought. The amount of that slice varies depending on the type of card and whether it has rewards programs or not.
When you have a card with a reward program, the interchange rate is higher for the retailer. The credit card company isn't offering you anything for free, they are just charging someone else for it. That someone is the retailer. If you think the retailer is eating the cost of your free plane ticket @ 50,000 points you're crazy too. The retailer just increases the markup on everything in the store to make up for the difference.
Side Note: Interchange rates are increased AT LEAST every year, if not more often. That means the 50 cent increase in gum might not be caused by raw materials increasing, or the retailer getting rich, but could just as easily be related to Visa increasing their interchange rate.
Do you think credit card companies care about your pack of gum being $1.89 now instead of $1.49? Nope. It's in their best interests for retailers to have to increase their prices.
The best part of this whole credit card hustle (since we're in a thread talking about fraud here) is that both the batch fee and the interchange fee are percentage based which means the higher the charge amount, the more the processing company & the credit card company get paid. The credit card company makes more free money on me selling a pack of gum @ 1.89 than they do @ 1.49. Not only do they get more in interest from you directly, but they get more in interchange fees from the retailer too.
I understand the ease of credit cards, but overall, people would be in much better shape if we didn't use credit cards as much and it's something each single individual person can do on their own & see benefits from it.
JMO.