” Any student who tries to purchase anything from Starbucks under $3 with their debt card may have an unpleasant surprise. As of April 1, 2009 customers need to spend a minimum of $3 in order to use their Visa, MasterCard or Discover. Starbucks is not the only one enforcing the new regulation: Zee’s, Union Market and the Burger Zone have also implemented the new guidelines.”
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Any student who tries to purchase anything from Starbucks under $3 with their debt card may have an unpleasant surprise.

As of April 1, 2009 customers need to spend a minimum of $3 in order to use their Visa, MasterCard or Discover.

Starbucks is not the only one enforcing the new regulation: Zee’s, Union Market and the Burger Zone have also implemented the new guidelines.

Yet according to Visa and MasterCard, imposing a minimum or maximum purchase amount goes against their merchant agreements.

According to Visa’s merchant agreement, Imposing minimum or maximum purchase amounts in order to accept a Visa card transaction is a violation of the Visa rules.

MasterCard’s rules read along the same lines stating that a merchant cannot require or indicate that it requires a minimum or maximum purchase.

Zia Ahmed, director of dining services, explained the reasoning behind the dollar line.

The main reason behind it is efficiency, Ahmed said. When you deal with a high volume situation, where you’re going through so many people in a short amount of time, it slows down the line.

We have to make sure that we provide the option but some level of balance, he said.

While the university has a merchant agreement with Visa and MasterCard, they were not able to provide the Buchtelite with a copy at press time. However, Ahmed said that he had not heard of this.

Nobody has mentioned that to me, he said. Every merchant account has a separate agreement with Visa and MasterCard.

Ahmed stated that while he did not know the exact terms of the agreement he would look into it.

If we are not in compliance we will make that change, he said.

This event is not limited to the campus area, various stores have created this minimum and there is something that students and consumers can do.

Visa’s rules require merchants to always honor valid Visa cards in their acceptance category regardless of purchase amount. When cardholders see the Visa logo, they expect to be able to make a transaction without discrimination, Visa said in an official statement.

If cardholders experience a merchant who establishes a minimum or maximum purchase requirement on Visa transactions, they should call the number on the back of their Visa card and provide the customer service representative with the name and location of the merchant.

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