On April 1, 2007, in yet another brazen disregard for its two core customers - retailers and consumers, MasterCard Worldwide® is preparing to raise interchange fees again, according to a report in Digital Transactions. Yes, they will lower some, but they are raising others. This time, they have posted the adjustments in a 100-page script that is sure to further galvanize even more interest in what we assert is unbridled, anti competitive price-fixing at levels our nation has never seen before. Last time, the rate schedule was just 72-pages. As an entrepreneur, ecommerce and retail business owner, we have not a clue what the new rates are. It's a bundle of confusion. At least when the US Post Office announced planned rate increases yesterday there was justification due to fuel and related costs. But, as technology continues to cut and lower costs, why is it that the member banks and MasterCard are again antagonizing its customers, especially when they are facing what might be the most costly antitrust litigation in our nation's history.
The credit card networks no longer must transfer large numbers of paper receipts and these fees are no longer cost-based, so what exactly is the justification to reap more windfall revenues?
Rather than a 100-page confusing online rate structure, a more genuine action would be to post the exact interchange fee on every credit and debit card receipt.
Click here to view the MasterCard Worldwide U.S. and Interregional Interchange Rates effective April 1, 2007.
Click here for an informational news account reported by Digital Transactions (Feb. 28, 2007).
[Source: WayTooHigh.com®, via Digital Transactions]
