Gas Stations Charge More Than $2 Per Gallon Credit Card Fee: Report

Eric Lian fuels up his car at a gas station on March 16, 2012 in Miami Beach, Florida. Gas stations on Long Island have been colluding to charge $2 to $3 per gallon in fees for using a credit card, according to several local news reports.

Gas prices may be falling nationwide, but some people on Long Island are shelling out mind-boggling sums at the pump.

Eighteen gas stations in eastern Long Island are charging more than $2 per gallon credit card fees, according to CBS 2 New York. (H/t Consumerist.)

Suffolk County's Weights and Measures Bureau has received 23 complaints about the issue in the past few days alone, according to CBS 2. One customer reported being charged a $15 service fee for using a debit card.

Are you being charged a fee for using your credit or debit card to purchase gas? Let us know by emailing [e-mail]

County officials says nothing can be done about the fees.

"We can't do anything in regards to the extra charging for that $2 per gallon for use of the credit card. It's not illegal," said Clifford Coleman, Suffolk County Director of Weights and Measures, in an interview with CBS 2.

At many gas stations, the difference between cash and credit usually is 10 cents per gallon, according to ABC 7. But the difference at one Long Island gas station was $6.19, according to ABC 7.

New York state law apparently forbids credit card surcharges, but it allows discounted prices for using cash, according to Newsday.

Lee Zeldin, a New York state senator, is drafting a bill that would require gas stations to post their credit card and cash prices on signs near the curb if the credit card price is at least 7 percent higher than the cash price, according to ABC 7.

Though gas stations are being charged less by debit card companies thanks to the Durbin Amendment in the Dodd-Frank Act, gas stations are failing to pass on the more than $1 billion in savings to customers, according to a recent survey by the Electronic Payments Coalition, a lobbying group representing Visa, MasterCard and a variety of small and large financial institutions.

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Comments

[Life With HC]

09:52 PM on 04/28/2012

Is this really a problem in liberal land? Can't you just use cash? Ain't got cash? Then you shouldn't be driving a car. Try a bike, bus, walking, or hitching a ride with a friend. It is silly how some people want the government to step in everywhere.

[lindi wright]

11:31 AM on 08/13/2012

its call convenience you pri*k.Some of use cant take a bus, or bike if you have many items to take with us or to different jobs.You would know if you had one idiot.
Hitching a ride? You must be one of those loafer bums.
Stop wasting my fresh air and breath in a plastic bag fool.

[firewmn]

01:44 PM on 04/28/2012

Costco Requires you have a Balance of 100.00 or more to use your debit/CC card... So if you have 90.00 in your bank acct and want 10.00 in gas...forget it... Even after you shop their store.. U r SOL.

[Life With HC]

09:48 PM on 04/28/2012

If you only have $90 in your bank account, you shouldn't be using a car in the first place until you can better live within your means.

[firewmn]

01:29 PM on 04/29/2012

You really Are clueless..

[lindi wright]

11:34 AM on 08/13/2012

you sound like an idiot. some people who live in suburbs have no other option.
if you had a job you useless air breather you would know this instead of going on forums 24 hours a day leaving post that justify your low IQ pri*k.

[TrishWexlerEPC]

02:38 PM on 04/26/2012

What these gas stations are doing in New York is criminal. I work with the Electronic Payments Coalition, and I can tell you for a fact that these fees are in pennies – not dollars. These gas stations are clearly looking to profit.

Importantly, the Durbin amendment (part of Dodd-Frank) capped what retailers pay to accept debit at around $.23-.24 TOTAL on a transaction, and since debit is overwhelmingly the most popular form of payment for gas, gas retailers across the country are saving big time.

They *promised* they would pass along savings if this became law – but no one is seeing any lower prices. And now we’re seeing surcharges, instead?

www.wheresmydebitdiscount.com/gasprices pulls back the curtain on gas retailers and debit card fees.

Trish Wexler, Spokeswoman, Electronic Payments Coalition

[Life With HC]

09:48 PM on 04/28/2012

The article specifically says the gas stations are NOT DOING ANYTHING ILLEGAL. Go fear monger some place else.

[mikeflagg]

11:59 AM on 04/26/2012

Your story accepts as gospel an ad campaign by the big banks that claims gas stations reaped a windfall from the Durbin Amendment.

Had you checked with any convenience store owner, you would find many lost money in the first quarter. The average owner, a small business, took in 13 cents a gallon in gross profit, says the authoritative Oil Price Information Service. But it cost the operator 15 cents to sell.

Much of those costs come from the banks themselves, which banks don’t want drivers to know. Hence their campaign deflecting blame on gas stations.

In fact, card-processing fees are now convenience stores’ second-largest cost, after labor. Banks take seven to 10 cents from each gallon these days, more than the convenience store owner – and adding that much more to what drivers pay at the pump. And when gas prices rise, the banks take a bigger chunk, though they’re not performing a single extra service or spending another dime to process the same transactions.

Banks and credit card companies have fixed swipe fees in secret for so long that between 2004 and 2011, as the price of gasoline rose 80%, card fees jumped 180% -- even though the cost of processing transactions was dropping. Americans pay higher card fees than any other industrialized country.

And selling gasoline is hyper-competitive. So, the federal Energy Information Administration found, gas stations pass 100 percent of savings to consumers.

Don't believe the banks.

Douglas Kantor, general counsel, Merchants Payments Coalition

[Freedomaphile]

09:04 AM on 04/26/2012

I have, occasionally, paid cash, but only if I think the stations cash price is also better than any nearby stations price.

[Scojam]

08:30 PM on 04/25/2012

I frequent a small restaurant that only accepts cash. The food is cheaper and the place is usually packed at meal times.

[daringsugar]

07:50 PM on 04/25/2012

Use cash, see how simple that is.

[Kandis SupaStar Hill]

02:11 PM on 04/25/2012

Many gas stations in Boston practice this. Gas is $3.88 if you pay cash, but it'll be $3.94 if you use credit. If you go inside and pay and use your debit card you can get the cash price. what they're doing is putting the fees the credit card companies Visa, MC, AMEX, ect... charge them back on the consumer.

[A level Head]

03:23 PM on 04/25/2012

"what they're doing is putting the fees the credit card companies Visa, MC, AMEX, ect... charge them back on the consumer."

Of course and why not. That is exactly where the cost should be settled.

[Kandis SupaStar Hill]

03:28 PM on 04/25/2012

I hope you're being sarcastic. If a business chooses to accept credit cards, then they need to accept the fees that coincide with them. I'm just going to go with you're being sarcastic

[Got Moxie]

12:45 PM on 04/25/2012

If they want to people to pay with cash they should be required to accept all legal tender. I have a small truck and it costs over $50 to fill the tank these days yet many gas stations in this area say they won't accept anything larger than a $20 bill. I would think this is illegal.

[Moderate Fanatic]

12:50 PM on 04/25/2012

Why can't you use 2 twenty dollar bills and a ten dollar bill?

[Got Moxie]

12:58 PM on 04/25/2012

Because I may not have the change - for a very small fee you can buy one of those markers to let you know if the bill is counterfeit.

[KIampfbeobachter]

08:01 PM on 04/25/2012

It is. There is a federal law out, an old one, that makes it a felony to reject US currency.
A 50 or 100$ bill is still a US currency.
Have the number of your next FBI office on your cellphone and call them the next time. Actually, call them in advance and tell them what you intend to do. Fill up your PU and pay with 50$ or 100$ bills. An FBI arrest, with press coverage is a good start.

[yahooserious]

10:24 PM on 04/28/2012

This is great... I'm going to remember and do this.

[membanzai]

12:32 PM on 04/25/2012

A couple of things wrong with this article...1) New York law prohibits companies for charging more when using a credit card... then article states that a person was charged a $ 15 fee for using a credit card... county officials said nothing could be done about the fees. The Fee and the law are contradictory, yes you can do something about it.

Also - according to the credit card merchant agreement, merchants are not allowed to charge more for using a credit card. Contact Visa, Mastercard, etc and they will pull the businesses rights to accept credit cards at all.

[buzzardbut]

01:20 PM on 04/25/2012

according to CBS 2. One customer reported being charged a $15 service fee for using a debit card...not qa credit card.

[membanzai]

01:40 PM on 04/25/2012

Debit cards still have a visa or MC brand, it should still violate merchant/card agreement.

[Life With HC]

09:50 PM on 04/28/2012

The law does not prohibit offering a discount for using cash.

[membanzai]

05:36 PM on 04/29/2012

Correct, the law does not prohibit offering a discount for cash, but the article states that customers were charged a $ 15 service fee for using a debit card. Which is charging more for using a debit card, not offering a discount for cash.

[TheMuckraker]

12:20 PM on 04/25/2012

I have been paying CASH ONLY for gas, for years.
If they are going to gouge me for the initial price of gas, I refuse to pay the station a royalty (by using plastic) nor do I buy junk from inside the station.
If they want money from me, bring down the price of gas.

[Chase Chevalier]

12:17 PM on 04/25/2012

Well I would imagine it would make sense to drive to the next station that doesn't charge this fee and purchas there. Problem solved! LOL This is news?

[jel3800]

05:38 PM on 04/25/2012

when was the last time you saw common sense enter into the discussions here?

[Life With HC]

09:53 PM on 04/28/2012

No way - we need massive government intervention and regulation. We need Chuck Schumer on television screaming "outrage" every night until the owners are handcuffed and executed.

[danholmes]

12:13 PM on 04/25/2012

How long would folks continue to patronize such greed? Seems suicidal business wise. It's a 6 cents delta in my neighborhood and that's acceptable to me. And yes it's stated on the street price sign.

[debbi8]

12:12 PM on 04/25/2012

Is there an online resource that we can access that we can use to if (and how much) our local gas stations are charging? I tried searching online but couldn't find anything helpful.

[davesfcs]

12:08 PM on 04/25/2012

Looks to me like they might be trying to bring attention to the outrageous fees that credit card companies & processors charge merchants to do business. My small (less than 1M) business account would be $13,000 fatter if last year's transactions had all been paid by cash or check.

[jack Winn]

01:06 PM on 04/25/2012

There's got to be a way to just make currency electronic.

[jel3800]

05:39 PM on 04/25/2012

its called Debit Card

[Life With HC]

09:54 PM on 04/28/2012

How about cash? Do people buy their pot and their crack with credit cards or debit cards?