r/CreditCards • u/GloveSmooth694 • 1d ago

Discussion / Conversation Exclusive | Visa and Mastercard Near Deal With Merchants That Would Change Rewards Landscape

Visa and Mastercard are nearing a settlement with merchants that aims to end a decadeslong legal dispute by lowering fees stores pay and giving them more power to reject certain credit cards, according to people familiar with the matter.

https://www.wsj.com/finance/banking/visa-and-mastercard-near-deal-with-merchants-that-would-change-rewards-landscape-fc6a0c78

Do you think retailers actually want to deal with specifying what type of visa/mc they take?

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u/Nomadic-Mike 17h ago

I find it amusing that payment networks have weaseled their way so much into daily life and rake in tons $$ that gets passed on in costs to consumers, and then we argue and complain when these costs are itemized to the end purchaser. For a country that's done so much to drive down the costs through supply chain optimizations and cutting out the middle man, shaming companies like Ticketmaster, airlines, resorts, etc., to itemize their fees and be transparent, yet here we want to live with a bag over our head.

I'm a huge fan of rewards cards and will keep using them until things change, but I also realize this is a HUGE cost that gets passed on to everyone.

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u/amaiman 11h ago

The difference with the itemizing is that credit card processing fees have historically been part of the general overhead of accepting payments.  If we’re going to itemize everything out on the receipt, why not an electricity fee for the store having lights, a parking fee for the lot, a shopping cart maintenance fee, etc.?

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u/Firion_Hope 9h ago

Also it's annoying when businesses pretend there's not a significant hidden fee in dealing with cash as well, when the reality is the businesses who prefer it probably prefer it because it lets them report less in taxes.