Businesses are hoping to get more bargaining power when it comes to how much they are charged to accept credit and debit card purchases.
The Credit Card Fair Fee Act (read the whole bill), was reintroduced this year and is now being discussed in Congressional committees. I first heard about it when I was buying an emergency breakfast at one of the various 7-Elevens that are sprinkled on my way to work.
They had a binder of papers on the counter and were asking for people to sign their petition. It seems that groups like the National Restaurant Association feel the credit card companies are treating them unfairly with a lack of transparency in the way they do business and arbitrarily raising fees.
Convenience store owner Bruce Mitchell said his operation paid out more than $3 million in credit card fees last year.
"I am paying 25 percent more for credit card fees than I pay in wages," he said.
Business owners say that these fees, and their frequent increases, are being passed along to consumers in the form of higher prices.
What do you think? Should the “free market” sort it out, or do credit card companies have too much power?
Small business pushes credit card reform, Susan R. Miller, South Florida Business Journal, June 8 2009
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Credit Card Fair Fee Act of 2009
Read more of Credit Card Fair Fee Act of 2009…
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