I'm not sure whether this is "legally" allowed, I'm currently checking into the legality. (Issue: Can a vendor force you to use a credit card payment and then charge you a percentage fee on top of that payment, or must that charge be incorporated into the fee charged by the vendor?)
I know it sounds like a silly question on its face. However, if you run a business, you know the hassle here (trust accounts, general accounts, reimbursement for credit card use from client, reimbursement of fees paid for client in filing. that this is legitimate).
So, if I were DAP & the Clark County Clerk, I would look into it, too. While I'm not 100% on this, I do recall that a merchant may not be allowed to "pass long" credit card fees to the consumer. If I'm right, then why is DAP adding a 3% fee to all transactions billed to a separate entity? Are they trying to get around that rule? Is this just for trust account issues (law firm charge vs. client charge)? Why have these fees never existed before? Why not just increase the filing fee? I'd like someone to answer these questions.
What do they mean by "This fee will be paid directly to the credit card company on file with your law firm"? Don't they mean "charged" not "paid"? It appears that the fee will be an additional 3% fee charged to all filings which will be billed to a different entity, not the courts. So we will have the $10.00/filing charge and a $0.03 [Math Correction: $0.30] charge to the credit card, from who?
In the bigger picture, it appears that this additional charge comes in the wake of the MANDATORY part of E-Filing. At a point where DAP's business is about to go through the roof in Clark County, is it really necessary to add a 3% fee for using a credit card, when we are being forced to use a credit card & forced to use E-Filing. Don't get me wrong, I am a HUGE supporter of E-Filing. I think we are late to the game on this one, to a certain extent. However, it already costs $6.00 for "e-filing only" and $10.00 for "e-file and serve", of which the latter will now be required. We must front these costs, along with the hugely increased filing fees, for our clients and seek reimbursement (from our retainer).
However, adding a 3% fee on top of filing only complicates our accounting and may make getting fees back a little more difficult. So, at $10.00/filing, do they really need the extra $0.03 [Math Correction: $0.30]. It is not like they have not been doing this for a while now. The complication for those of us filing will be quite large when you take into account that when we pass along the $10.00/filing charge we will have to account for $0.03 [Math Correction: $0.30]. The accounting & billing nightmare for institutional clients, and regular clients, just exploded!!
So now the question becomes whether or not you are going to bother passing a long $0.03 [Math Correction: $0.30] for each filing or "eat it". Either way, I can only say THANKS to DAP & Clark County for this additional headache. Like we don't deal with enough problems, they've just added to our daily burden. It would have been easier to increase the cost of each filing by $1.00, incorporating the cost in the filing fee, & they'd make a lot more money.
HEY DAP!! You just got a monoploy in Clark County with a huge increase in business. Thanks for the appreciative 3% fee that "will be applied to all statutory court fees". YOU SUCK, in my opinion, of course!!
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5 COMMENTS:
Call Visa & MC. Once upon a time, in a former life as a banker, a merchant could not add the interchange fee to the purchase price. In other words, the vendor needs to eat the credit card processing fee.
Now, this can differ in some circumstances. The IRS, for example, uses a third party vendor to process their charges and that vendor charges a fee. That isn't against Visa and MC's rules. It is only against the rules if the vendor is charging you directly.
If you ever see the signs at your dry cleaner that say you get a $1 fee for any purchase under $10, that is against Visa and MC rules. In addition, so is offering a discount equal to the interchange fee for a cash purchase. Simply because I know the rules and I am clearly an argumentative legal type, I get very bitchy about those little signs. My parents own a small business and I have yelled at them for the same sort of practices.
Just a quick note - 3% of $10 is 30 cents, not 3 cents. Go about your business.
Thx Anony...even worse @ $0.30 a pop.
I think that it is a great service. only experience can help to do that kind of thing.
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