Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Interchange Fees

I know I repeatedly post here about banks being evil. I don't have as strong an opinion on the interchange fees charged for use of credit/debit cards though.

In general it seems that the duopoly of Visa/MC is a problem, and that AmEx/Novus (Discover) aren't really angling to beat them, but to ride their dominance...maybe because they don't service banks that stamp their network logo onto cards. But a federal limit to how much they can charge has the potential to damage the business in an unfair manner...one that will lead to my credit/debit cards being less useful in the future.

Maybe I feel this way, because I see a lot of cash only places around me. They are notably cheaper than places that take credit/debit. Now, they don't get as much of my business because I am less likely to have cash than I once was, but when I do, and when I need to get [food] then I certainly appreciate the lower cost.

Honestly I wish that a credit union like group would figure out how to push into the market as a non-profit competitor to Visa/MC, which I think could have a real impact on competitiveness.

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