Lower Rewards
According to The Baltimore Sun, "Two major credit-card programs are preparing to scale back bonuses paid to consumers for gasoline and other purchases."
This raises the question of whether the credit card associations and member banks are also preparing to lower interchange fees.
Merchants already pay about one-hundred separate fees, including higher rates when cardholders choose affinity, rewards cards. As some banks are preparing to lower the award points for everyday purchases, will they just pocket the savings or refund it to retailers and consumers?
More transparency on Interchange Fee Schedules
And, what about posting U.S. merchant interchange fee schedules on the MasterCard® website beginning later this fall? What will happen as our overseas WayTooHigh.com readers see the website and respond? Many other industrialized nation's have much lower interchange rates and the transparancy will raise further questions about how these rates are established and its fairness.
[Source: WayTooHigh.com via The Baltimore Sun]
