Paying to Pay

Stroudsburg, Monroe County - If you use credit cards as payment, prepare to pay more. Stores are now allowed to charge you a fee for swiping your card. And that has many shoppers upset.

Christine Branigan of Stroudsburg likes to pay with plastic. She said, "I always use credit cards. I never have cash." But that could change. She just heard about new rules that will allow stores to charge customers for using credit cards. She reacted, "I kind of think it's ridiculous in my opinion."

Starting this week, stores can charge you up to 4% of your bill when you swipe your card. Mathew Burger of Stroudsburg reacted, "I don't think they should because you're already spending money on the product in the store so it doesn't make sense to charge extra for what you're already paying for."

Many stores say even though they can charge a fee, they won't. The National Retail Federation reports most vendors say they don't want to alienate customers.

Dave Butler owns Stroudsburg Foto in Stroudsburg. He said,"We're not gonna pass it on, as of now, and I don't think we ever will to be honest with you."

Butler told Eyewitness News every time someone uses a credit card in his store, it costs him money. He added that the fees eat into his already small profit margin. He said, "I mean it could run, I would say in the spectrum of $300 to $1000 a month, you know that we have to pay out every month just because we take credit cards."

Butler isn't willing to pass that on to his customers. He said, "Being a small merchant, being here for 42 years in this little town of Stroudsburg, we built the business on service and being able to do what the customers need and want."

While it appears most merchants don't want to pass along the fee, customers say they're prepared to change their shopping habits if fees become common. Burger said, "I'd probably just pay cash."

The fee will not apply to debit cards.

You should also know if a store is charging a credit card use fee, the fee will vary depending on what credit card you use.