February 20, 2024
As of March 1, 2024, the YMCA of Metro Denver will begin to pass on a 2% surcharge for all transactions and accounts drafting from Mastercard, Visa and Discover credit cards.
The surcharge is not applicable to debit or gift cards.
Additionally, we will no longer accept American Express as a new payment method.
Why this surcharge? The YMCA of Metro Denver pays an estimated $500,000 annually in credit card processing fees, which was 40% of our financial assistance budget for 2023.
Can you avoid the charge? Yes! You can avoid these fees by changing your payment method to debit card or ACH in your YMCA account. Here’s how.
Below are a few questions and answers. If you have any further questions, please contact us. Thank you.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
Why are you charging this fee now?
A Colorado law went into effect 2022 that allows businesses and organizations to “pass on” these fees. See the Colorado Attorney General’s website.
Are there any exceptions?
According to the policy for American Express, we will not assess a surcharge for existing accounts with an American Express credit card on file.
The YMCA of Metro Denver will no longer accept American Express. Current members/participants that are utilizing American Express for a recurring payment will be contacted to change their stored payment method before April 1, 2024 as we will no longer accept this payment method.
Are you also adding this credit card surcharge to donations to the YMCA?
Currently, individuals who choose to donate to the YMCA through our website (denverymca.org/donate) have the option to pay the credit card surcharge. That won’t change.
In most cases, donors choose to pay the fee.