>Q: Can a merchant charge me a fee to use my MasterCard card? Can a merchant require a minimum purchase amount to use my MasterCard card? A: The answer to the first question is almost never;
Technically true, but merchants can offer a cash discount. It's effectively the same thing, with the key difference being that they can lower their stated price if you pay in cash, but they can't raise their price at time of purchase if you choose to use a credit card.
>the answer to the second question is not ever.
The FAQ is out of date on this point. Visa, Mastercard, and AmEx all started allowing a $10 minimum purchase last year:
Technically true, but merchants can offer a cash discount. It's effectively the same thing, with the key difference being that they can lower their stated price if you pay in cash, but they can't raise their price at time of purchase if you choose to use a credit card.
>the answer to the second question is not ever.
The FAQ is out of date on this point. Visa, Mastercard, and AmEx all started allowing a $10 minimum purchase last year:
http://consumerist.com/2010/09/amex-visa-mastercard-all-give...
As the article notes, this was a provision of the Dodd-Frank Act.