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Interchange for debit and credit cards is now almost the same in Europe (0.2% vs. 0.3%).
by lxgr 5mo ago
Interchange for debit and credit cards is now almost the same in Europe (0.2% vs. 0.3%).
- titanomachy 5mo agoYeah it’s the US credit card fees that are the real problem. No reasonable person would argue that Visa should get to be a 3% tax on all consumer financial activity.
- lxgr 5mo agoIt's not as simple: Visa and Mastercard don't get the 3%; the issuing banks do. But Visa and Mastercard effectively set the rates, and the higher they are, the more issuer business they get; meanwhile merchants are essentially never in a position to reject either Visa or Mastercard (notable exception Costco confirming the general rule), so market forces are pretty one-sided. I think if Visa and Mastercard were three-party networks like Amex or Discover (now Capital One), their interchange would have long been regulated down by >90%.
- reconnecting 5mo agoCustomer... French companies pay social contributions (~45% of the full salary) via Visa and MasterCard, and the French authorities are making it nearly impossible to pay these by wire transfer.