American Express Membership Rewards - Merchant Card Acceptance

Folks,

I have worked in the Card Business on the Merchant Side for 12 years.

Merchants are prohibited in their BankCard (Visa/MasterCard) agreements they sign with their Merchant Bank, and their American Express and Discover agreements from DISCRIMINATING against any card types. The provisions are commonly referred to HONOR ALL CARDS.

You can turn offenders into MasterCard on their web sites. Visa requires you initiate the complaint via a call to your Issuer. The end result is the Merchant Bank gets a rule violation letter from Visa or MC, and is told to get the merchant inline. Ultimately, the Associations (Visa and MasterCard) have the authority to order the merchant terminated and blacklisted from the card system.

Amex works slightly differently, as their are no Banks (at least in the U.S.) involved. They have a direct relationship with the merchant, and can shut him/her off if they violate rules.

I have not heard of anyone getting anything for turning a bad merchant in.

I personally go after merchants

I'd say about 3-4 times a year, AMEX sends a little postcard in their bills asking if you've been asked by a merchant to use a card other than AMEX. They also ask which stores currently not accepting AMEX you'd like to see it accepted at. It definitely seems like it's a little more direct involvement.

Jeff