Originally Posted by
Kremmen
There are 6,799 FDIC-insured US banks (as of 2014). Firstly, 5/6000+ is an insignificant number. Secondly, only banks with rewards cards are really relevant here. Thirdly, even if the banks were relevant, these fees often vary by product, so blanket statements even restricted to one bank are meaningless. One bank can have some FTF-free cards and some that charge 3%.
Ancient articles in a rapidly changing marketplace are likely to be irrelevant. In the past 5 years, there have been competitive changes and law suits. 5 years ago, even 1 year ago, some of the best rewards cards in the industry had hefty FTFs (e.g. SPG Amex). Much has changed.
If you read the rest of my post, you would know that I either explicitly or implicitly mentioned those points and then answered them.
Yes, those are institutions that you've never heard of and articles that are fairly old.
But that doesn't detract from the possibility of this situation and the need to gather more data. But apparently some people are unwilling to have such data.
Also, why does it matter that those articles are old? You say they're "likely to be irrelevant". I'm setting up a presumption shift. I've given evidence that MasterCard does do this. That's the default position. It's now your burden of proof that "much has changed" in this specific area. Obviously, much has changed in other areas, but it remains to be proven that this specifically has changed. You're just vaguely hand waving and gesturing and trying to say that it's obvious that this has changed when it's not obvious at all.
I specifically addressed those concerns already and explained why I made those citations.