fishin wrote:Visa and Mastercard don't set the fees and there is no conspiracy to hide what the fees are from the customers. A quick Google search will give you several thousand lists of the various merchant card processing companies and what their fees are.
For example:
http://www.infomerchant.net/creditcardprocessing/cc-processors.html
If people aren't aware that stores pay processing fees then that is by their own ignorance.
Yes, the Visa and MasterCard members set the fees. Plus, the fee gets split between the credit card companies, the processing companies, etc. As the
wikipedia entry states,
[/QUOTE]For one example of how interchange functions, imagine a consumer making a $100 purchase with a credit card. For that $100 item, the retailer would get approximately $98. The remaining $2, known as the merchant discount and fees, gets divided up. About $1.75 would go to the card issuing bank (defined as interchange), $0.18 would go to Visa or MasterCard association (defined as assessments), and the remaining $0.07 would go to the retailer's merchant account provider. If a credit card displays a Visa logo, Visa will get the $0.18, likewise with MasterCard. Visa's assessment is fixed at 0.0925% of the transaction value and MasterCard's assessment is fixed at 0.0950% of the transaction value. On average the interchange rates in the US are 179 bps (1.79%) and vary widely across countries.[/QUOTE]
Regarding disclosure from the credit card companies, the LA Times article noted,
Quote:Merchants and consumer advocates hope the increased attention from Congress will be enough to get credit card companies to lower or cap their fees.
After Congress began focusing on the fees last fall, Visa and MasterCard posted them online. This year, MasterCard agreed to limit interchange fees on gasoline purchases to the first $50, and Visa agreed to lower fee rates for some purchases of $25 or less.
It is amazing what the threat of Congressional action can do.
As for people's awareness of the fee, not many people do know. I'll leave it up to others to decide if this is a matter of ignorance or the credit card companies trying to keep a low profile on this issue, in fact calling the fee "merchant discount fee."
Quote:In a January survey of about 2,000 adults by polling service Harris Interactive, 32% had heard of interchange fees. Once the fees were explained to them, 91% said Congress should compel credit card companies to better inform consumers about interchange fees.