No Right, No Minimum!
We have all seen it– merchants imposing minimum purchase requirements on items paid for with credit and debit cards. Although this is common, it is against the merchant agreement of both Visa and MasterCard.
I received a phone call from my mother today asking if it was legal for store owners to impose these minimums for credit/debit cards. I told her I didn’t know the answer to that, but I said I would visit the MasterCard and Visa website to find out.
I first did a Google search and found out that although it’s not illegal to impose minimums per se, it is indeed against the merchant agreement of both Visa and MasterCard. Now I was intrigued. Why do some merchants do it? Do they know it’s breaking their agreement? Do they care? Do they think the public doesn’t know the guidelines? Whatever, it’s wrong.
