The Acquired podcast episode about Visa explains this. The high fee for rewards cards can be justified to merchants because those are their best customers, i.e

The Acquired podcast episode about Visa explains this. The high fee for rewards cards can be justified to merchants because those are their best customers, i.e. rich people, people to travel a lot, etc. It’s actually kind of messed up because rich people are getting a larger discount on goods than poor people who can’t get a rewards card.