Today's Visa USA® press release announced that certain, smaller electronic credit and debit card transactions will realize lower interchange fees. What is interesting about the release is that the company's "Small Ticket Program" was eliminating signature requirements for "several merchant segments where fraud has been historically low, such as fast food restaurants, drug stores/pharmacies, parking lots and movie theaters, among others."
We thought the banks' argument to vote for consistently higher interchange fees was due to fraud. With lower fraud exposure and improved technology, interchange is no longer cost-based, but rather fueled by what we assert is collusive price-fixing by agreement.
[source: WayTooHigh.com]
