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I wish credit card fees would come down, they're ridiculously high and increase the price of doing business, which increases the prices you pay for items.
by bostonvaulter2 8y ago
I wish credit card fees would come down, they're ridiculously high and increase the price of doing business, which increases the prices you pay for items.
- cycrutchfield 8y agoMost people that care get a substantial portion of those fees back (either as cash or rewards). So in reality, those fees are a tax on the poor, the un-creditworthy, and the financially illiterate.
- kasey_junk 8y agoI assume they meant merchant fees.
- sokoloff 8y agoProbably so. That's where the money for the cash-back comes from, after all...
- throwaway76543 8y agoMerchants raise prices to compensate. That is why it is "the poor, the un-creditworthy, and the financially illiterate" who ultimately pay.
- kasey_junk 8y agoSure but I think the argument is that because those merchant fees are unknowable no one can make intelligent choices around them. The disadvantaged are obviously more impacted but it’s possible that all of us not in credit card employ or shareholder are taxed. A prisoners dilemma sort of thing. But we are well past my economics understanding.
- throwaway76543 8y agoWe know generally what the rates are and the statement above is accurate: "Most people that care get a substantial portion of those fees back (either as cash or rewards)"
- freeone3000 8y agoUnknowable? Visa: https://www.visa.ca/en_CAsupport/small-business/interchange.html https://www.visa.ca/en_CAsupport/small-business/interchange.... Mastercard: https://www.mastercard.ca/content/dam/mccom/en-ca/Documents/Interchange%20Table%20as%20of%20Dec%201%202016(1).pdf https://www.mastercard.ca/content/dam/mccom/en-ca/Documents/... (PDF) AMEX is a bit harder to find, reseller is https://www.helcim.com/ca/american-express/ https://www.helcim.com/ca/american-express/
- kasey_junk 8y agoIts unknowable what merchants are marking their prices up as.
- viraptor 8y agoDo you really? Maybe it's country-specific, but in Australia there are no programs which give you that many benefits. Likely the best are the airline points, and even then they don't cover close to the payment processing fee total.
- aptwebapps 8y agoBesides the various more complicated rewards systems, you can get 2% cash back on a few cards, although 1 or 1.5% is more common. 2% is most of the transaction fee, in some cases more.
- megy 8y agoING in Australia used to give you 5% back on their credit card, they stopped it earlier this year.
- SyneRyder 8y agoThere's been a recent change in Australia, the Reserve Bank put a cap on the maximum interchange fee credit card companies can charge in Australia (capped at 0.8%). As a result, many of the cards that earned the best rewards have been scrapped. I had an AmEx card that was good for earning airline points, the bank cancelled the card after the Reserve Bank ruling. https://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/rba-changes-set-to-cut-credit-cut-frequent-flyer-rewards-20151203-gled44.html https://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/rba-chan...
- jimmy1 8y agoMost places that the poor (at least in rural areas) shop at offer substantial discounts for paying with cash. There is typically the "cash" price and the "card" price. At a liquor store, a 44 dollar bottle paid with card is 39 dollars cash. A haircut at the local barber is 13 dollars cash or 15 dollars card.
- ams6110 8y agoMy barber doesn't take cards at all. Cash or check only.
- northwest66 8y agoDo you mean one of those things they write on paper slips when you say check? Which country are you from?
- Symbiote 8y agoThe American spelling of cheque is check, and they're still very common there. That's exactly what they mean.
- Spooky23 8y agoUsually that means if he has 25 customers a day, he tells the tax man about 10.
- zaarn 8y agoYou know, people from the US say that a lot but in other countries like germany where >75% of purchases are cash and a lot of stores are cash only, this doesn't seem to be a problem at all...
- h2j24 8y agoI think Germans genuinely enjoy paying taxes. One need not look farther than Germany's close neighbors (Italy, Greece) to see that many people do underreport cash revenue.
- mmirate 8y ago> tax on the poor, the un-creditworthy, and the financially illiterate. Taxation is glorified theft, but in this case I don't care because these are acceptable targets.
- dang 8y agoIf you continue to post uncivil/unsubstantive comments and use HN for ideological battle, we will ban you. We've already warned you more than once. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- mmirate 8y agoThe comment I was replying-to was also putting forth an ideological argument. (Or at least attempting to, via connotations.)