Q. How does Leap’s Cash Discount Program work?
This program is a way for merchants to offset most of the cost of their processing fees. Merchants implement a service fee that applies to all products, and then give a discount to customers who choose to pay with cash. Customers who pay with cash will avoid the additional fees and all others will see a line item added to their receipt. To start using Cash Discount, merchants must post signage alerting customers about the fee applied to all items, and also update their terminal application to add the appropriate fee to transactions. Leap Payments’ program makes this easy!
Q. Is this program legal?
Yes, cash discounting is legal in all 50 states. The Dodd-Frank act prohibits payment card networks “from inhibiting the ability of anyone to provide a discount for payment by cash, checks, debit cards, or credit cards.”
Q. I’ve never heard of a Cash Discount Program before, is it new?
No, businesses have been offering discounts for those who pay with cash for years. In the United States, a lower posted price for cash is very common at gas and service stations across the country.
Q. Is this like a surcharge?
No, offering a discount to customers who choose to pay with cash is a completely different situation than surcharging when it comes to the card brands’ regulations. While surcharging is allowed under certain parameters laid out by the card associations, business owners are able to price their products and offer discounts on those products at will. Cash discounting is the business owner exercising that freedom. Surcharging is adding a charge only for customers who use a credit card, and is not currently allowed in ten states.
Q. Will this program completely eliminate my monthly processing bill?
Almost. Some merchants will still see some small fees on their bills due to the variations in Interchange prices, but most will see a drastic (95-100%) reduction in their processing bill. Leap Payments will set up your bill on a daily discount structure, meaning we will take your fees out every day instead of a lump sum at the end of the month. Your monthly statement will show a near-zero cost of processing with the money for the goods and services you sold showing up in your deposit. You will also have a small monthly subscription fee to cover your participation in the program.
Q. How do I decide between a flat, per transaction fee and a percentage?
Leap Payments will set that up for you based on your average ticket size. For those businesses with an average ticket below $15, we recommend a flat dollar amount, per transaction fee. For those with a larger than $15 average ticket, 3.99% works best. This process ensures that as much of your processing costs as possible are covered.
Q. Will my customers be upset with this fee and go elsewhere? Won’t I lose business?
Not according to other business owners’ experiences. As cash use declines, the hassle of going to an ATM and paying those fees (sometimes north of 5%) is not worth paying a little extra to use a card. 4% (or a small flat fee) on an individual transaction has a small impact to the consumer, but a very significant impact on your cost of doing business. If you explain the cash discount program is a way for you to keep providing quality goods and services without increasing all of your prices, consumers have shown they are willing to keep shopping with you.
Q. What current regulations exist?
By uniformly assessing a set customer service fee across all products and payment types, merchants utilizing the Leap Payments Cash Discount program meet the standard regulations set forth by all major card service providers, state law and federal law. As part of our regular standard list product pricing a small service fee (much like an automatic service gratuity applied in some dining locations) is assessed on ALL sales regardless of how payment is made including checks, cash, credit-debit cards, gift cards, etc.
As stated in the Durbin Amendment (part of the 2010 Dodd-Frank law) businesses are permitted to offer a discount to customers as an incentive and to encourage customers to pay by alternative methods other than a credit/debit cards including either checks or cash in order to automatically receive a discount which is applied at the time of sale.
No discrepancies are made whether a PIN was entered or not. Under the Durbin Amendment there is no distinction between using a PIN or not and if the card is a bank debit card it is always considered a debit transaction – with or without a PIN number and never would such a transaction be considered a credit sale.
As of January 27, 2013 several Card industry changes went into effect with regards to the credit card company’s federal class action litigation settlement. The settlement requires Visa and MasterCard to change some rules for merchants who accept their cards, including allowing merchants to “offer discounts to customers who pay with payment forms less expensive than Bank Debit cards”.
