Legal to charge a fee if paying cash?

AT&T charges a fiver if you pay your cell phone bill with cash. Is that legal?

 

Might be worth it if you pay in pennies.

 

Yes.

 

Do you pay your phone bill every month in cash? And if so, why?

 

Near as I understand, they have to take cash (For all debts...) but they can charge a fee for it.

 

First time I've paid in cash. Too complicated to explain why. Never thought I'd live to see the day when you had to pay extra to pay with legal tender.

 

A lot of people don't realize that if it's not a debt but a payment for services to be rendered, they don't have to accept cash. Or something like that...

 

I read an article that said a grocery store somewhere, maybe Florida, was no longer accepting checks or cash for payment. You had to pay with a credit or debit card.
Said people who paid with cash or check clogged up the lines and made other customers wait.
I would never frequent a place that didn't take cash or checks. Not because I pay with either very often, it just pisses me off when someplace tells me how I can spend my money. In my mind, they should be grateful for a customer.

 

Given the options these days---cash, debit or credit card--I totally understand why stores don't take cheques any more. They're the least secure form of payment But not accepting cash is ridiculous.

 

After recently dealing with a cashier who couldn't figure out how much change to give for a $26.49 purchase paid for with two $20 bills, I can understand why some places don't want to accept cash.

 

There were several gas stations in the part of Alabama I lived that didn't take credit cards. Cash or check only.

And here in DC, there are still tons of places that accept cash only. No checks. No credit cards. Straight cash, homey.

 

Lots of counterfeit bills out there, but also plenty of stolen credit cards. Not accepting cash makes no damn sense. I suppose it makes the store less of a robbery target, but still.

What's not OK under credit card merchant agreements, or at least Visa's (I think it's Visa), is having a minimum credit card charge. I know why they do it, because the fee is a dollar or whatever. But it's technically not allowed under the merchant agreement. Under Visa's, neither is asking to see ID when a card is signed (unless the signature doesn't match). That was a few years ago, though; wouldn't surprise me if that's changed since then.