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Visa, Mastercard Mull Increasing Fees For Processing Transactions: Report (reuters.com)

Posted by msmash on from the up-next dept.

Visa and Mastercard, the two biggest U.S. card networks, are preparing to increase certain fees levied on U.S. merchants for processing transactions that will kick in this April, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. From a report: Some of the changes relate to so-called interchange fees, the report said. Interchange fees are what merchants pay to banks when consumers use a credit or a debit card to make a purchase from their store. Fees that Mastercard and Visa charge financial institutions, such as banks, for processing card payments on behalf of merchants are also set to increase, the report said.

8 of 263 comments (clear)

  1. Totally not collusion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Definitely not collusion

    1. Re:Totally not collusion by rnturn · · Score: 3, Informative

      Actually, with healthcare, the patient has virtually no way to know the cost of the services they receive. There were recent articles about how, when hospitals released the fees, the obtuse wording and jargon in the price lists made it almost impossible to know what a visit was going to cost. And it's not like there are that many hospitals near to an individual that they're going to take the time to wade through the confusing price lists to decide which one at which to have their surgery. If it's an emergency situation, you go to where the ambulance takes you costs be damned.

      With the absurd rise in deductibles, people may begin taking the time to shop around for a cheaper family physician---if you know exactly what billing codes will be involved in whatever you're planning to have done (and there are no surprises when you get into the examination room) and can drag that information practices' billing staffers. Those are big "if"s.

      --
      CUR ALLOC 20195.....5804M
  2. Re:Consumers will pay for this by ctilsie242 · · Score: 2, Informative

    Can't be done. Visa, Mastercard, and Amex all have clauses forbidding those cash discounts, which can cause a merchant's account to be pulled.

  3. Re:Consumers will pay for this by chemish · · Score: 5, Informative

    Can't be done. Visa, Mastercard, and Amex all have clauses forbidding those cash discounts, which can cause a merchant's account to be pulled.

    I'm pretty sure it can be done you just have to do it the right way. I see places all the time offer a ~2% cash discount but what you can't do is add on a 2% credit card fee.

  4. Re:Consumers will pay for this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Nope. That was outlawed in 2010 with the Dodd-Frank bill. They can and do offer cash discounts.

  5. Re:Consumers will pay for this by SlaveToTheGrind · · Score: 5, Informative

    Can't be done. Visa, Mastercard, and Amex all have clauses forbidding those cash discounts, which can cause a merchant's account to be pulled.

    This is a well-worn urban myth. Merchants absolutely can and do offer discounts for paying with cash -- what they can't do is impose a surcharge for paying with a card. Here's a recent article where Visa explains the difference.

  6. Re:Watch out Visa by I'm+just+joshin · · Score: 5, Informative

    If PP charged lower merchant fees, they might. But they don't. So they haven't.

  7. Re:Consumers will pay for this by caseih · · Score: 3, Informative

    But a discount for cash isn't the same thing as adding a surcharge for credit cards as far as pricing the CC cost into the retailer's prices. Since CC fees vary, fairly wildly, offering a set discount either means that some cards are still going to cost the retailer more than others. The best the retailer can hope for is an average. The retailer certainly can't offer a discount based on what credit card a customer might have used!