Many students are familiar with the words “$10 minimum” as they order a drink downtown. But for those with MasterCard and Visa credit cards, this practice may violate a user agreement between the business and the card company.

“This has come up in the past,” said Shawn Conroy, spokesman for Georgia’s Governor’s Office for Consumer Affairs. “This is part of a larger friction between businesses and credit card companies regarding fees.”

The Visa Web site states Visa merchants are not permitted to establish minimum transaction amounts, even on sale items. Merchants also aren’t permitted to charge a surcharge fee when a customer uses a Visa card.

MasterCard has a similar policy, which prohibits a merchant from requiring a minimum purchase amount in order to use the company’s card.

But many Athens businesses still maintain a minimum or charge an additional fee for the use of a card for payment.

Junkman’s Daughter’s Brother, for instance, charges a $5 minimum on credit purchases.

“I did not know that [minimums aren't allowed],” Megan Tyrell, an employee at Junkman’s, said Thursday. “The owner of the store is the one who sets the policy. I don’t know why he did that.”

Tyrell said customers who try to pay with credit cards but are under the $5 minimum usually either “tack on an impulse buy or won’t buy anything at all.”

Other places, such as Transmetropolitan, don’t impose minimums, but do charge a fee for purchases under a certain dollar amount.

“We don’t have a credit card minimum,” Jess Rosenkoetter, manager at Transmetropolitan, said Thursday. “But if it’s under $10, there’s a 30 cent charge the credit card companies charge us if it’s under $10, so we charge the customers.”

Several Athens residents didn’t have a problem with the policy though, even knowing the credit card companies don’t permit it.

“I feel like it is pretty standard,” said Ari Koschorke, a senior from Arizona. “I don’t think I have ever regretted it because I was aware that there was a $10 minimum. I understand why businesses do it.”

Brenda Cude, a housing and consumer economics professor in the College of Family and Consumer Sciences, wrote in an e-mail that the practice makes sense economically since the merchant must pay a fee for every credit card transaction.

But altough the practice makes sense economically for businesses, some students see it as a way to take advantage of consumers.

“It is a scam that consumers are forced to deal with because of no oversight,” wrote Katherine Durham, a senior from Glennville, in an e-mail. “I think that they are great for the business and credit card companies, but an absolute rip off for consumers. It is a breach of contract . there should be outside regulation and oversight of the matter.”

In the case of bars, alcohol is typically the only product consumers can purchase to reach or pass the minimum.

“I feel like sometimes I am being forced to make poor decisions so that [bars] can profit from alcohol impaired behavior,” Durham said. “Credit card minimums make me spend more money than I plan to.”

Still, others point out credit cards aren’t the only form of currency.

“Anyone is free to pay for their drinks in any way – not just by credit card,” Cude said. “Go to bars that don’t require a minimum charge to use a credit card.”

If a consumer finds a business that is violating their credit card contract and feels that they are being treated unfairly, there are two options.

Visa urges consumers to notify the financial institution that issued the credit card in order to report the business’s violation of its contract agreement.

“If the consumer does not like the policies of that particular establishment, then they should stop frequenting that establishment,” Conroy said. “There is not a law that prohibits it as long as it does not create an unfair burden on the consumer.”