Consumers, Fees | featured news

Charge a fee to use your credit card? It’s legal for merchants to do that, unless barred by state law. Charge a fee to use your credit card? It’s legal for merchants to do that, unless barred by state law. Ten states already ban such surcharges – California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Oklahoma and Texas – and more may join the list.

Starting Sunday, paying by credit card could get more expensive. Under the terms of a $7.2 billion settlement reached last summer between credit card companies and merchants, merchants will be free to impose a surcharge on customers paying by credit card.

In his weekly radio address, the president said Americans “have a right to not get ripped off by the sudden rate hikes, unfair penalties and hidden fees that have become all too common to our credit card industry.”.

Legislation to rein in credit card practices and eliminate sudden rate hikes and late fees that have entangled millions of American consumers is getting closer to becoming law, bolstered by presidential pressure and the backdrop of economic calamity.

President Barack Obama tells US credit card firms to scrap unfair interest rates and be fairer to customers.

Legislation to curb credit card fees and limit consumer penalties cleared a congressional panel on Wednesday, a day ahead of a meeting between industry executives and President Barack Obama at the White House.