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1. News
WHY AM I CHARGED THE CREDIT PRICE FOR GAS WHEN I USE A DEBIT CARD?
* Published: Jan. 06, 2022, 5:30 a.m.
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By
* Karin Price Mueller | NJMoneyHelp.com for NJ.com
EDITOR’S NOTE: On January 24, NJ.com hosts EmpowerU Money: New Year’s
Resolutions— a FREE virtual live event. Learn the latest tips on budgeting and
saving to meet your goals in 2022! Spots are limited. Register here.
Q. If I use a debit card to pay for gas, are they obligated to charge me the
cash price? I filled up at two gas stations in the past couple of days,
requested to fill up debit, and both times they charged me the credit price,
which was 10 cents more than the cash price.
— Customer
A. It’s a great question.
It has to do with the fees charged to merchants, and it’s not against the law.
Let’s dive in.
N.J.A.C. 18:19-2.7 says: “[a] retail dealer may sell similar fuels at different
prices to cash and credit customers,” provided the retailer displays “[a]
conspicuous sign . . . posting the price per gallon (or per gallon and per
liter) reduction for cash purchases of fuels.”
“Retailers often do not distinguish between debit or credit card purchases due
to similar transactional processing fees, and therefore charge the credit card
price on all such transactions,” said a Consumer Affairs spokeswoman. “N.J.A.C.
18:19-2.7 does not prohibit that practice.”
About those fees: Debit cards are an easy way to make purchases as they
typically withdraw the amount of a purchase directly from the linked bank
account, said Claudia Mott, a certified financial planner with Epona Financial
Solutions in Basking Ridge.
Even though they may be lower than that of a credit card, there are fees
associated with processing a debit card transaction, she said.
Debit card transactions can be processed in two ways, with either a PIN or as a
signature debit.
PIN transactions, where you must enter your personal verification information,
are processed through a debit network where fees are generally lower than for
credit transactions, Mott said. When a signature is required, the transaction
will process through a credit card network — most debit cards show an affiliated
link such as VISA or Mastercard — where the vendor pays an interchange fee.
In order to recoup the fees, gas stations will frequently charge the credit
price when a debit card is presented, she said.
Important to note, in early 2020, the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security
issued a warning to consumers regarding the use of debit cards at gas stations,
Mott said.
“At that time, many gas stations lacked chip readers to process card
transactions. The data that is stored on the magnetic strip is sent in an
unencrypted form to the gas station’s network where there is the possibility it
can be stolen or obtained through a card skimmer device,” she said.
Gas stations were given until October 2020 to update their card equipment and
comply with the requirement to have chip readers, she said.
Email your questions to Ask@NJMoneyHelp.com.
Karin Price Mueller writes the Bamboozled column for NJ Advance Media and is the
founder of NJMoneyHelp.com. Follow NJMoneyHelp on Twitter @NJMoneyHelp. Find
NJMoneyHelp on Facebook. Sign up for NJMoneyHelp.com’s weekly e-newsletter.
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