Merchant Not Accepting VISA
 

I am throwing this out to see if someone has an idea or two for me. I have a Marriott Rewards Premier VISA card. I am expecting my daughter's first college tuition bill on or around July 1 payable by August 1. I was hoping to charge the full first semester's tuition on the card. The University has contracted with a company to make monthly payments as well as to accept credit cards. I come to find out today that this payment service takes Discover, AMEX, MasterCard but NOT VISA. They claim that is was VISA's decision to not work with the company. For the life of me, I cannot see how anyone cannot accept the most widely used credit card. VISA tells me that I can write a courtesy check to pay the bill and not incur fees for a cash advance but I do not earn Marriott Reward points. I can just as easily write my own check. Does anyone know any way around this?

Joe

Unfortunately, I don't think you can do anything. The company that processes credit cards for your University just does not participate with Visa and cannot process transactions on a Visa network. It is very common practice that a merchant does not accept specific card. There are merchants that only accept Amex and there are merchants that only accept Visa.

The others have agreed to allow the processing company to charge a "convenience fee". Visa has held the line and said no. ^

Yes :) . Call 1 800 2346377 to apply for a Diners Club Mastercard. (There is no online application.)

http://dinersclubus.com/dce_content/...l/corebenefits

Each dollar will earn one Club Rewards point, which you can transfer to Marriott Rewards 1250:1500

https://www.citibank.com/dinersus/js...egory=e350b05d

Thank you! I cannot believe that the school has not run into this or had complaints from parents about it. This seems like the perfect solution.

Joe

"They claim that is was VISA's decision to not work with the company."

L:DL ~ Nice spin.
/.

I think we will see more divergence between Mastercard and VISA acceptance because they no longer have interlocking ownership and are beginning to behave as competitors rather than a duopoly. I think it's prudent to plan to use at least one each American Express, Mastercard and VISA network card, ideally from three different issuers. Bank of America abd Citi both issue cards on all three networks, but I would rather have unrelated accounts.

Why not take advantage of the fact that they will accept an AMEX and earn some SPG points via the SPG Amex?

I realize you may be focused on Marriot points, but given that this purchase type will probably only earn 1 Marriot Rewards or 1 SPG point per dollar, I think the prudent choice is to use SPG.

In my opinion, 1 SPG point >>>>>> 1 Marriot point. If anything, you could probably work something out on CC that would be to your advantage.

Primarily because I have over 225k in Marriott points and have plans for when I go over 250k. Tuition bills in July and December will total some $35,000.

Joe

Having dealt with this WAY back in '94 or '95 with my school it was the opposite they would take VI and AX but not MC. Back then the school had negotiated rates with their processor and bank. Over the summer MC raised some rate and the processor went back to the school who promptly told them to stick it. The school then published the entire exchange of documents in the school paper apologizing to to students, while pointing out that although a 1/4% was not a big number at the end of the day it would have cost them a bunch.

Close to 15 years later the same BS is still going on. Nothing changes.
-Dave

Good point. Here is an interesting NY Times article (even though a bit out dated so stats could of changed in 18 years):

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpag...57C0A966958260

Taken from the article:

"Less Profit From Mastercard

Although most banks issue both Visa and Mastercard, they make less profit from Mastercard. For one thing, there are 37 million fewer Mastercards than Visas. Mastercard holders also buy less with their cards - an estimated $925 in charges this year compared with an estimated $1,031 for Visa - so banks earn less from merchant fees and interest on balances. "

This article was published in 1990.

I did mention in my post that it is 18 years old, but still think it is interesting.

This situation has changed significantly in the last 18 years.

Not to mention that the NY Times's analysis is simplistic. Looking at gross fee dollars per account doesn't seem as useful as calculating a percentage of transaction volume.