European credit card fee cap! Rip off?
May 1, 2016, 9:02 am
#16
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2003
Programs: BA Silver, EY Gold, HH Diamond, IHG Plat
Posts: 12,210
Absolutely. The fee caps are bad for small businesses (as they allow large corporations to cut their costs relative to the little guys even more than they already can), they're bad for consumers (they reduce credit card rewards and benefits, and raise the cost of borrowing), and they're... neutral-ish for banks (issuing banks lose, acquiring banks however can win by having a larger profit margin on what they charge small businesses). The only real winners in the interchange fee cap game are the likes of Tesco/Asda/Sainbury's/etc.
May 1, 2016, 9:06 am
#18
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2003
Programs: BA Silver, EY Gold, HH Diamond, IHG Plat
Posts: 12,210
Surely you can't mislead Law makers. Don't get me wrong I am not saying you are incorrect but just find it hard to believe how a bunch of politicians fell for such blatant lies.
May 1, 2016, 9:08 am
#19
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2003
Programs: BA Silver, EY Gold, HH Diamond, IHG Plat
Posts: 12,210
lol. I just read this again. A little silly to assume that they would run through the pro's and con's of something.
May 1, 2016, 11:36 pm
#20
Moderator: Manufactured Spending
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 6,580
When the cost of a service is lowered, those who buy more of that service will benefit more than those who buy less. By that logic, nothing should ever be done to lower costs, because it will hurt small businesses.
May 2, 2016, 4:36 am
#21
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2003
Programs: BA Silver, EY Gold, HH Diamond, IHG Plat
Posts: 12,210
May 2, 2016, 12:54 pm
#22
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: San Diego, CA
Programs: GE, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 15,507
I wonder if introducing mandatory interchange plus pricing along with interchange caps would help more with card acceptance than the latter alone. If nothing else, it'd let smaller businesses reap some of the gains that the larger ones have from the caps.
May 2, 2016, 1:24 pm
#23
Join Date: Nov 2012
Posts: 3,537
Absolutely, transparency at the small merchant level is needed. I'm not a fan of regulating these fees tho, it never seems to help consumers.
Aug 18, 2016, 12:59 am
#25
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: San Diego, CA
Programs: GE, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 15,507
From http://www.pymnts.com/news/payment-m...it-card-fees/:
Maybe there's some hope yet?
“We’ve found over 100 companies that are charging fees in excess of 1 percent, and we believe this is the tip of the iceberg,” the company said in a blog post. “The true cost for each of these organizations will be different. But the variability in the charges highlights that some companies are not playing straight by the rules. If easyJet is charging 1 percent, how can Ryanair justify charging double that?”
Fairer Finance says that, in highlighting these fees, it wants to see Trading Standards increase enforcement against companies who aren’t following the rules and for ministers to make examples of them. Over the longer term, it says it wants to see charges for paying by credit card outlawed altogether, which it said many countries in Europe have already done.
Fairer Finance says that, in highlighting these fees, it wants to see Trading Standards increase enforcement against companies who aren’t following the rules and for ministers to make examples of them. Over the longer term, it says it wants to see charges for paying by credit card outlawed altogether, which it said many countries in Europe have already done.