Forum Overview :: Tansin A. Darcos's Alter Ego :: American Express Busted on Merchant Practices

[quote name="Commander Tansin A. Darcos"]I got this in the mail today as my company has a merchant account with American Express: American Express Services Company, Inc. World Financial Center 200 Vesey Street New York’ NY 10285-4908 October 7, 2015 Dear Business Owner or Manager, We value your business as an American Express merchant and want to ensure that you are aware of important modi?cations to your Card acceptance contract resulting from recent developments in a federal court case. The modi?cations were effective as of July 20, 2015, and only apply to your locations in the United States and United States territories and possessions. The changes relate to the treatment of American Express Cards. A federal court has ruled that American Express violated the law by prohibiting merchants from in?uencing the payment form that their customers use. As a result of that mling, you may now favor any credit card brandthat you wish, by, for example, communicating to customers which credit card brand you would prefer that they use, telling customers which crediticard brands are the most or least expensive for you, or offering discounts or incentives to customers to use the credit card brand you prefer. Consistent with the federal court's ruling, you may not, however, disparage or mischaracterize the American Express brand or impose a surcharge (as opposed to a discount) on customers who use an American Express credit card. To in?uence the credit card that a customer uses, you may employ any of the practices listed in Section IILA of the court's order,including: * Offering a discount or rebate, including an immediate discount or rebate at the point of sale; * Offering a free or discounted product; * Offering a free or discounted or enhanced sen/ice; * Offering an incentive, encouragement, or bene?t; * Expressing a preference for a particular brand or type of card; * Promoting a particular brand or type of card through posted information, through the size, prominence, or sequencing of payment choices, or through other communications to a customer; * Communicating to a customer the reasonably estimated or actual costs incurred by you when a customer uses a particular card, or the relative costs of using different brands or types of cards; or * Engaging in any other practices substantially equivalent to these. To review all applicable terms and conditions, please refer to the court's order, a copy of which may be found at: http://www.justice.gov/atr/case/document/order-entering-permanent-injunction-american-express-defendants. The court's order also allows American Express to maintain merchant rules providing that you cannot make untrue statements about your cost of accepting American Express Cards or the relative cost of accepting American Express Cards as compared to other credit and charge cards. Similarly, if you choose to compare your cost of accepting American Express Cards to your cost of accepting other credit or charge cards, you must exclude the costs of accepting debit cards from your calculation. If you choose to attempt to influence a customer's choice of credit or charge card, you must reasonably indicate that you accept American Express Cards by posting signage, either at the point of sale (including online or on mobile sen/ices) or at the store entry, or by communicating orally that you accept the American Express Card prior to the request for authorization of the transaction. For example, you may satisfy this requirement by displaying a sticker at the point of sale or at the store entrance indicating all brands you accept that includes the American Express logo. Accordingly, American Express has made modi?cations to its <b>U.S. Merchant Regulations</b>, the <b>U.S. Merchant Reference Guide</b>, and the <b>U.S. Merchant Operating Guide</b> to re?ect the federal court's ruling. Please read the revised documents relevant to your Card acceptance contract carefully, as they explain in detail the new policies and procedures goveming your treatment of American Express Cands.You can ?nd these -revised documer-rts and a fuil-copy of the federal court's‘ruling at https://www209.americanexpress.com/merchant/sevices/en_US/DOJ To the extent your Card acceptance contract, or other agreement that governs your acceptance of American Express Cards, contains provisions that are inconsistent with the federal court's ruling, American Express will not enforce those provisions. American Express is presently appealing the federal court's ruling. If the federal court's ruling is reversed or modi?ed as a result of the appeal, American Express resen/es all rights to cancel or revise these modi?cations. We will apprise you of any such updates in the future. If you have questions or would like more information about these modi?cations, please visit https://www209.americanexpress.com/merchant/sen/ices/en_US/DOJ for more details. Thank you for accepting American Express Cards. We appreciate and value your business. (signature) Anré Williams President, Global Merchant Services [/quote]