If the product or service is worthwhile, people will pay for it, even if the method of payment is not preferred.

The CCCA offers no benefits to consumers.

If two companies offer the exact same (worth while) product or service, the one that accepts credit cards will get more customers.

I wasn't aware that it was being spun as pro-consumer legislation. If that's the case, shame on them.

Spot-on.

I've always said this.

Credit cards are brilliant things if you use them correctly and are responsible.

Quick example of how I use them.

Have 2 or 3 sitting there as lines of credit with offers attached to them such as interest-free for 18-months.

You then need a new kitchen. Say you get quoted 15k for the new kitchen - pay it with those 2 or 3 credit cards and let the 18-months offer kick in.

The 15k I can keep that in my savings instead, earning 4.5% interest on for the next 18-months (= over £1000 you earn on that, whilst only paying the minimum repayment amount monthly on the 15k balance on the cards - which can be as little as 1% - I know that's per month and is £150 but if you are working full-time, or married and there's 2 incomes into the household that are both paying for the kitchen you don't feel it such a hardship)

When that 18-months is up you have a decision to make 1- do a balance transfer (and carry on the same arrangement) 2- pay the balance off (can even put the £1000 interest you've made towards it to bring the amount down even more).

The balance transfers always would involve a 2 or 3% fee but recently I've been able to get 18-months on purchases and balance transfers with no fee allowing you to keep moving with it.

Compare this to getting a bank loan for that 15k in the first instance - what's repayments for that? anything from 20-35% APR? I'm just guessing? I've never had a bank loan before.

The key to it all though is having a good credit rating, not missing your repayments and keeping your credit utilisation at a decent level - do that and credit card companies will throw these offers at you.

I'm using an additional one just now that only has a 4k limit but it's not for the type of spending mentioned above. It's £12 a month and gets me unlimited lounge visits with Priority Pass, Airport fast track, no foreign fees for using the cash for transactions overseas and 1% cash back. I have redirected as many of my monthly bills to it as possible and use it for all my every day spending, get the 1% cash back credited to my bill and with the cash back coming off, I think I've been paying on average of £4 a month for it (the difference minus the cash back). I've only had it 5-months so you're talking about £20 it's cost me and I think I've had two dozen lounge visits, a dozen fast tracks, the cash back and god-knows how much saved in the foreign fees abroad. Talk about value.

I appreciate most folk on here know this and I'm stating the obvious, but it's worth saying for people to read.

The amount of idiots I've worked with through the years who think it's great not paying their bills, trying to bump companies for money/refusing to pay utilities etc and then wonder why they have poor credit ratings and can't take advantage of credit cards, their offers, get a mortgage, finance a car etc. They just don't see it.

In the context of FT, being able to spend ourselves into debt isn't really the core issue. We (Americans) like getting free first class tickets to Japan in exchange for using a new card for normal spending for a month or two...a pretty sweet value proposition. We also like putting purchases on our cards in order to earn more points/miles. Sometimes, we even dine at restaurants we don't particularly like if there is an appealing multiplier.

These carrots are what motivate our interests. And, many here are up in arms at the prospect of losing them.

I certainly consider myself a player of the game and will lament the new changes (if the bill passes) on a personal level. But, I understand that the mechanics of the current system benefit billion dollar companies at the expense of small businesses. That's not really fair.

With a new law, would hotels and airlines devalue existing points, or would issuers merely make it harder to earn them?

The EU interchange cap of 0.2-0.3% for personal credit/debit cards that went into effect a few years ago is an excellent case study what happens to loyalty credit cards. Most CCs remain. Some increased the annual fees, some introduced caps to the amount of points you can earn, some changed the earning ratio.

Overall card acceptance increased in the EU, partly driven by the pandemic, partly driven by local laws requiring stricter documentation of cash transactions even at the retail level.

Which tends to show that card acceptance rates have very little to do with merchant fees and more to do with the cost of processing cash and the impact of COVID.

CC Acceptance was rigidly tied to merchant fees. Merchants would only accept debit cards before as the cost to them was acceptable. Once the fees dropped to 0.2-0.3% CCs became on par with debit cards and the POS Terminals were updated to accept CCs. Most merchants still block Amex (4.5%) and business cards (>3%).

I agree. Government involvement is unlikely to make anything better. While I can empathize with small business trying to compete with Amazon and big box stores, CC merchant fees are hardly the biggest factor. I’m happy to use credit cards for the security of not carrying cash around as well as getting the rewards. I will not use a debit card as I only have an ATM card requiring a pin without any visa/MC logo.

If your gross margin is 6%, the difference between 1% and 3% is definitely significant.