# New merchant account rules



## headfirst (Jun 29, 2011)

For anyone that didn't get the email from their merchant or didn't feel like reading through a long boring PDF the visa and mastercard rules were changed today to allow for cash discounts and incentives...

There are a whole bunch of other little changes as well regarding size of logo at the pos, etc... Let me know if you want me to post the full content of the notice.


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

I haven't seen an update. Is there a link to the new terms somewhere?


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## headfirst (Jun 29, 2011)

Rodney said:


> I haven't seen an update. Is there a link to the new terms somewhere?



Mastercard:

Notice of MasterCard
®
Rules Changes
As a result of the consent decree and final judgment that was entered between MasterCard and the 
Department of Justice, MasterCard agreed to modify Rule 5.11.1 “Discrimination” in the United States as 
follows:
A Merchant may request or encourage a customer to use a payment card with an acceptance brand other 
than MasterCard or other form of payment or a Card of a different product type (e.g., traditional cards, 
premium cards, rewards cards) than the Card the consumer initially presents. A merchant may do so by
methods that include, but are not limited to:
a. Offering the customer an immediate discount from the Merchant’s list, stated, or standard price, a 
rebate, a free or discounted product or service, or any other incentive or benefit if the customer 
uses a particular payment card with an acceptance brand other than MasterCard or other particular 
form of payment;
b. Offering the customer an immediate discount from the Merchant’s list, stated, or standard price, a 
rebate, a free or discounted product or service, or any other incentive or benefit if the customer, 
who initially presents a MasterCard, uses instead another payment card or another form of 
payment;
c. Expressing a preference for the use of a particular payment card or form of payment;
d. Promoting the use of a particular general purpose payment card with an acceptance brand other 
than MasterCard or the use of a particular form or forms of payment through posted information, 
through the size, prominence, or sequencing of payment choices, or through other 
communications to customers (provided that merchants will abide by the MasterCard trademark 
standards relating to the display of its marks); or
e. Communicating to customers the reasonably estimated or actual costs incurred by the Merchant 
when a customer uses particular payment cards or forms of payment or the relative costs of using 
different general purpose payment cards or forms of payment.
Consistent with the modified rule, merchants are free to engage in the POS practices that are described 
above, or any other substantially equivalent practices. Acquirers are prohibited from adopting or 
enforcing rules or agreements with respect to U.S. merchants that are contrary to the foregoing rules. 
Electronic copies of the MasterCard final judgment can be found can be found at 
http://www.justice.gov/atr/cases/f273100/273170.pdf


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