Being Charged a Fee For Using Cash!!!

Is it even legal for them to charge for paying in cash? On every bill in the U.S. there is printed a statement on the front that "this note is legal tender for all debts public and private". Refusing to accept cash or charging you extra to pay your bills with it seems to me as if it would be a violation of some treasury law. Why don't you call up your local attorney general office and ask them if it's legal to charge extra for paying in cash? I would!

That is without a doubt the most disgusting thing that I have heard. A drastic sign of the times though. All the newest VISA commercials act as the entire world stops when you use cash! But holy cow, a third party vendor to handle cash transactions?! ROFL

Gouge, gouge, gouge. It makes my blood boil. Recently I wanted to order flowers for my mother when her brother passed away. She lives in another town so I went online to find a florist near her. I found one that I remember passing on my way to her place. You would think ordering online would be easier. There were two fees... a $10 delivery fee AND a $10 ONLINE ORDER PROCESSING FEE. Do you believe that? The easier they make things for themselves, the more they charge you. The whole idea of technology is to not have to pay as many staff, right? Cheaper for them. Needless to say I looked for another florist who didn't even charge a delivery fee, let alone a processing fee. I remember when I got my insurance settlement, I had to cash the cheque and cut a new one to the car dealership because I was buying a new vehicle. The dealership required either a certified cheque or money order (for obvious reasions). Only problem was the cheque I received was not certified so I would have had to wait 7 business days for the cheque to go through. The bank teller suggested I go over to my lawyer's bank (he cut the cheque) and have their cheque certified. I did that and was charged something like $8. Then I went back to my bank to deposit the cheque and certify another one for my dealership. I would have been charged another $8 to certify THAT cheque as well. Fortunately I got a nice bank teller who waived the fee. Don't even ask me about our RESP (Registered Education Savings Plan). From what I can understand from our annual statements, we get charged a fee for depositing money into this account. Costs are going up on all things, paycheques are going down. How are we supposed to survive?

I know how you feel i have had so many issues with my bank they decided they were changing the basic account i had to a different one as the basic was longer going to be available but since then i have had loads of fees and its never updated regular and i think its all the third party handlings as you say its terrible.

I always pay by cash if I possible can. I think that it is outrageous that you are charged extra for using your nation's legal currency. This is appalling customer service and I sincerely hope that you had stopped shopping with that company. The answer is to tell the clerk that YOU charge a $4 fee for processing a check! Consumers need to start fighting these stupid procedures that are there for the stores convenience not yours. I have no idea what a starer check is, here we have cheques and they are equally valid provided that you have sufficient money to cover the amount owed. In fact there is sometimes a charge for using a credit card here - some stores (Aldi and Lidl for example) don't accept them at all. But the customer is made aware of any handling charge before they make their purchase. Unless the store that ripped you off, and I think that's exactly what they have done, advised you beforehand of a charge, I would have refused to pay. Late fee or not. If you have a consumer protection organisation in yur state I would write to them and ask about the legality of such actions. I am so mad for you! LOL.

That is absolutely riduculous! You should of asked him to see whatever that was written down on. IT may have been a scam, but that is a bold one! I thought you were writing about getting charge to use your card as a debit, or atm withdrawal, which is bad enough, but this is terrible. On another note, whenever I get a new account, I always ask for checks starting at 1000, being how some places won't take checks from a new account, such as these jerks.

I think being charged a fee to pay cash for your bill is ridiculous. A $4 fee is pretty steep just to pay cash. I understand on the debit card fee being charged though. The credit card company does charge the merchant a fee for them to accept debit cards and credit cards. I think it's a 1-2% fee of the amount. In any case, I don't think anyone should be charged a fee to pay with cash.

I know that where I've recently moved, you have to pay specific bills via check. That's all fine and good but 1) I hate checks because I've had them negotiated late! and 2) my bank was recently bought out so they have the old name. I'm used to paying online directly from my account--now, every little charge is being transferred to the consumer. If that's the case, it makes me wonder why the average purchase price has gone down and no one has figured that out?!?! But a convenience fee for paying cash? Obviously they're taking into account the added cost of a person to tally the money and run the deposit to the bank. I'd personally pay off my bill as quickly as possible and close my account in person, citing their unreasonable fees as the reason.

Hi LadyMarissa, I have never heard of such a thing! I pay a lot of my local bills in cash and have never been charged a fee. Actually I've seen some banks that do charge for debit and others charge when you use it as cash. I am lucky in that my bank doesn't charge me either way. The added on fees for all of these things are getting ridiculously out of control. Some banks charge a fee just for checking your balance at an atm. it's just ridiculous how they nickel and dime us.

I have never heard of such a thing either and I would be furious if someone asked me to pay a fee for cash. Sounds like an excuse to exploit people. Where I used to work we took any form of payment and never charged any fees for them. There are far too many people adding fees to things these days and maybe consumers need to take a stand about it. I have heard that some people charge fees for using eftpos and that is wrong because it is the same as using cash and the banks do not charge fees for using it. Not only do you get late fees but if the late fees overdraws your account you get charged for that as well. We changed banks because they were often putting fees through which overdrew the account and then charging an overdrawn fee. I wondered if they did it on purpose to make the bank money. I know they cheat on term deposits. If you let your money roll over for a new term when the term is up then they give you a lower interest rate than if you had just opened the account from scratch. That happened to me once many years ago and I closed my accounts and never went back. It does not make sense to me as I would have thought they would reward customers for staying with them, not ripped them off. Oh well their loss as I have black named the bank ever since.

Well, i think that's the pits,the very idea of them charging u that for paying cash. I wonder just what they would have done if u had refused. Knowing me i would have probably found out, lol. That would have really p.o. me.

That's a bit strange. First, the answer is 'yes' many people do choose to pay a fee for a service they find worth it. As for me, I'd likely not deal with that company anymore.

I have never heard of being charged such a fee. I pay most of my bills by phone, I very rarely use cash anymore. I always think of the debit card like cash. If you don't have enough you can't use it. You should have asked to see the manager and complained, maybe you would have got it back. You should still complain to someone! That doesn't sound legal or right.

Okay, how the heck do they figure a third party into the paying with cash equation?! You have the cash. You hand the cash to the cashier. The cashier rings it in, it goes in with the bank deposit at the end of the day, and an employee takes it to the bank. Unless they've got an armored car coming to pick up the daily deposits... but I don't see why they'd need one if they charge a $4 fee to discourage cash payments! Believe it or not, there's no law that says businesses must accept cash payments. The Treasury department says businesses are free to create their own policies for accepting cash. I didn't read too far into it, but that sure makes it sound like businesses can charge fees for using cash if they want to. I'd hate to do business with a company like that. I'd be too tempted to go change out my bills for rolls of pennies if they wanted to charge me a fee for using cash.

Hi LadyM That is certainly news to me as I have never been charged a fee for paying cash I think it is wrong to charge a fee for Payments anyway it really annoys me that they charge us for making a Payment as far as I am concerned you are paying on time so why the fee That is so wrong

This is the first I've heard anything like this! It's robbery!! I know if I pay with a debt card on my electric bill they charge a $7.00 fee. I can't believe you were charged to use cash! Yikes! I think I would go back later and talk to another clerk or the manager and ask about the fee. I'm wondering if the second clerk needed the $4.00 for lunch....?

I think being charged a fee for using cash or having a late fee is a rip off. We don't get charged a fee for using cash it is legal tender here in Australia. The government wouldn't allow such fee for using cash. As for late fees a lot of companies charge late fees on bills like power and phone and car registration. All of which there was talk about the government making it illegal to charge such fees. Obviously nothing came of it because they still charge late fees. Some places charge a fee for using credit cards and eftpos. eftpos is where you swipe your atm card into a machine and enter your pin number you may call it something different overseas. As a result of this I keep an eye on transaction fees and late fees and I pay a bit every week on the bills even though the bills haven't come yet to avoid coming up with a lot of money in one go.

I think that company deserves a nicely worded complaint against that "price gouging" practice. There's absolutely NO reason they need to charge ANYTHING for accepting cash. Stores have been accepting cash for a h3ll of a long time now without ever charging more if you pay with cash. I wonder who one would complain to? First, I think I'd find their corporate headquarters and send them a complaint. Maybe even the BBB would accept a complaint like this because I've NEVER heard of any other store doing this. I think they're just trying to take advantage of the "tough times" and tacking that fee on for the sole purpose of making more money. I bet it had nothing to do with any "third party handling". If it were me, I'd be paying that bill off as fast as I could and letting them know that I will NEVER buy anything from them again and I'll be spreading the word about their "third party fee" practice and how totally unfair it is. But, that's me... loudmouthed Aries. I can't stand any injustice and this definitely stinks of injustice.

WOW that just sounds outrageous! A third party handles their cash transactions??!!?? That is just weird to me. I have been charged a fee for paying online or via the phone with my debit card before but have never been charged a fee for cash. I can understand a company charging a late fee. That is within the scope of business and I suppose it helps some slackers make sure they pay on time but to charge a fee for cash is just flooring me. I also understand a reasonable fee for using debit cards via phone or online. The bank will charge them a fee and they have to pass that on to the customer. Fee's to pay on time would prompt me to look for another place to do business!

LOL. First they charge you for using Credit Card and now they charge you for using cash. What will they think of next? Looks like they are always looking for ways to earn money! I remember reading about how one of the Apple stores refusing to sell an iPad because the customer wanted to pay cash (it was credit card only). I also heard that some of the boutiques in France will only accept credit card - cash is not acceptable. Hmmm... This is like forcing us to go cashless!