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Trucking Industry Helps Fund Visa and MasterCard’s Rewards Programs

Now that an average 18-wheeler gas fill-up costs about $1,200, next time you see a truck take notice that they are helping to fund Visa, MasterCard and its member banks cardholder reward schemes.  As trucking industry drivers use plastic to pay for topping off their tanks, about $25.00 merchant interchange fees are immediately funneled to the card associations and their member banks.  When you review technological advancementsand the laws of efficiency, just how much of that $25.00 help support the electronic payment network?  According to published reports, the cost to process an electronic transaction is about 13 percent - That means that the cost is about $3.25 from the standard 18-wheeler truck fill-up, while $21.75 (87%) helps explain why the merchant interchange fees are broken and unfair.

“House to Hold Hearings on Credit Card Interchange Fees” (via ConsumerAffairs.com)

Click here to read the May 14th ConsumerAffairs.com article by Martin Bosworth.  Reprinted below.

Retailers, bankers gear up for discussion of ‘Fair Fee Act’

By Martin Bosworth, May 14, ConsumerAffairs.com

The House Judiciary Committee has scheduled hearings on legislation that would rein in credit card interchange fees tomorrow. The hearing will be preceded by a frenzy of lobbying as retailers square off against the financial industry over the hidden fees that retailers pay to process credit card transactions.

The hearing will discuss the “Credit Card Fair Fee Act of 2008,”introduced in March by Judiciary Committee chairman John Conyers (D-MI). The proposed legislation would require lenders and credit card companies to negotiate with retailers on terms for interchange fees, and for the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department to step in and arbitrate if an agreement could not be reached.

Currently, interchange fees are set by credit card companies such as Visa and Mastercard, and the payments are often high enough to wipe out a store’s profit on any sold item, forcing them to raise prices for all customers just to recoup their losses. A coalition of retailers banded together to sue both companies and many major banks for what they claim was collusion in setting interchange fee profits

Photo store [and ScanMyPhotos.com co-]owner Mitch Goldstone, one of the lead advocates of eliminating interchange fees, said that “We are ready to explain why interchange fees are obsolete, illegal and anti-competitive.” In a posting on his blog, WayTooHigh.Com, Goldstone said that “After years of toil, merchants and consumers are at the cusp of forcing the demise of these unbridled and unnecessary interchange fees on American’s and our neighbors around the world.”

Strange bedfellows

Both the retailer litigation and threats of proposed new regulations have conspired to bring together credit unions and national banks–traditionally old foes–to oppose the legislation. The Hill reported that both sides plan to bombard Capitol Hill with advertising urging Congress to oppose legislation restricting interchange fees.

Retailers and interchange fee opponents hope to take advantage of the zeitgeist surrounding credit card, as several members of both the House and Senate have introduced new legislation that would curb the most abusive practices of the industry, and have held multiple hearings decrying the more unscrupulous tactics of the financial industry against its customers.

Even with continuing healthy profits for both credit card companies and highly successful IPOs, both Visa and Mastercard are rumored to fear a “perfect storm” combining the elimination of the interchange fees, lower card usage and higher delinquencies due to the economic climate, and restriction of many of the fees levied on consumers.

Industry analysts have observed that one of the principal motives for both Visa and Mastercard to go public was to build up “war chests” for funds to recover losses if the interchange fee litigation should go against them–and to shift the bulk of the risk to shareholders and investors.

At $50 Billion, Is MasterCard and Visa’s Member Banks’ Cartel Nearing its End?

The total annual merchant interchange fees continue to soar and reflect a growing discontinuity with the nation’s recession and realities that technology and efficiencies should be lowering fees. Instead, according to Robin Sidel’s May 14th WSJ article ["Consumers May Pay For Credit-Card Bill"], merchant interchange fees “generated roughly $50 billion last year.”  Robin explained on the phone this afternoon that this rate was based on information from The Nelson Report,

Just how monstrously tainted are these anticompetitive charge-card fees that violate federal antitrust laws?

Look at it this way:  Visa and MasterCard’s member banks’ interchange fees last year were much greater than three-times Microsoft’s entire net income of $14.8 billion dollars last year. The total interchange fees charged to merchants and paid by consumers last year were greater than the combined net earnings of Chevron ($17.5 billion), Hewlett-Packard ($7.2), Intel ($6.2), Walt Disney ($4.6), Apple ($3.4), Lockheed Martin ($3.0) McDonald’s ($2.3), Federal Express ($2.0) and Walgreen ($2.0). [source: Forbes 400].

 

Want to know more about lead plaintiff ScanMyPhotos.com?  Click here and read their daily blog: Tales from the World of Photo Scanning

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Just like the British in 1773, Visa and MasterCard Won’t Negotiate. Enough is Enough (Via UnfairCreditCardFees.com)

• Just like the British in 1773, Visa and MasterCard won’t negotiate. Enough is enough.  View “Tea Party Ad” print advertisement
• Credit card companies trap merchants and consumers with high fees. Don’t take the bait!  View “Card Trap Ad” print advertisement
• Americans pay 3 times as much in credit card interchange fees as Europeans.  View “Screw Ad” print advertisement
• Ever wonder who pays for all that credit card junk mail? You do. It comes from your credit card interchange fees.  View “Junk Mail Ad” print advertisement
• It’s the credit card sucker punch consumers never see coming.   View “Boxer Ad” print advertisement

 

[source: Unfair Credit Card Fees.com]

“Old Foes Unite to Keep Charging Credit Card Fees to Merchants” (via The Hill)

WayTooHigh.com - The Credit Card Interchange Report Comments:

Even financial interpreter Jim Cramer is in for a grueling week as Visa and MasterCard readies for what both companies warn might lead to their “insolvency” [according to their SEC filing statements].For an update on Thursday’s planned Capital Hill combat against the giant credit card associations and its member banks, click here to read Jessica Holzer’s May 12^th The Hill column.   

You know there are splinters in Visa and MasterCard’s haywired argument when lobbyists for the banks and the credit unions join forces; while they are gasping, we are ready to further illuminate the issues. It has been more than three-years since launching the class-action complaint to arrest this $40 billion annual hidden tax on merchants and consumers.

Let us not forgot that interchange fees were designed decades ago to cover the cost of a four-party electronic payment network - back when we used manual credit card imprinters and mailed in thick bundles of carbon copy credit card receipts to clear the payments. Back then, it took days to transfer funds, today it is instant and efficient.

Today’s efficiencies have done away with the antiquated payment process, yet the fees are higher than ever. Why the disparity as interchange rates abroad are a fraction of the nearly 2.0% tax charged in the U.S.?

 

 

This is the “perfect storm.” 

We are ready to explain why interchange fees are obsolete, illegal and anti-competitive. Even the banking industry’s shareholders are in for another bombshell so audible and eclipsing that the impact from their executive’s round of previously misfortunate decisions and billions in prior writeoffs may be petite in comparison. A trial by jury allows fort trebled damages.

When was the last time you heard the U.S. Federal Reserve explain that interchange fees “dampen innovation” for check writing? Never: there are no interchange fees to clear checks. Likewise, why hasn’t the Fed explained that merchants “derive huge benefits” from accepting paper checks for payment? Again, there are no fees to clear a check and if it is so significant a cost, why hasn’t the banking industry demanded interchange fees for that payment form?

The banking lobbyists are ready and so are we, but our story is being told by regular shop owners to personalize the issue. After years of toil, merchants and consumers are at the cusp of forcing the demise of these unbridled and unnecessary interchange fees on American’s and our neighbors around the world. The American public is fed up with the banking industry’s mismanagement and audacity; the days of cartel-like price-fixing will vanish, just as did those bulky manual credit card imprinters also disappear.

“Visa’s IPOIs Worth a Close Reading” (via WSJ)

Understanding the Word “Insolvency” Is Crystal Clear

Visa Inc. Files 10-K Annual Report, Amends S-1 Registration

  

Want to know more about lead plaintiff ScanMyPhotos.com?  Click here and read their daily blog: Tales from the World of Photo Scanning

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Visa, MasterCard: Credit Card Fair Fee Act of 2008 Hearing

The House Antitrust and Competition Policy Task Force holds a hearing on the Credit Card Fair Fee Act of 2008 to ensure competitive market-based rates and terms for merchants’ access to electronic payment systems.  Thursday 05/15/2008 - 11:00 AM; 2141 Rayburn House Office Building, Judiciary Committee Antitrust Task Force.

Visa and MasterCard: How to Profit Off a Devistating Natural Disaster

Visa and MasterCard profiting from a devastating natural disaster?

This is another image crisis for the two leading credit card associations and their thousands of member banks.  When the public understands that with each electronic payment donation to help the people affected by the Asian cyclone, Visa and Mastercard are doing more than clearing the charges.  They are reaping profits from a global tragedy.  There should be additional pressure placed on their continued profiteering - this time at the expense of vital aid needed for that region of the world, ratherthan to help fund the banks’ other fiscal missteps.

If you thought that Visa, MasterCard and thousands of banks were heartless by reaping windfall profits during our economic energy crisis and record fuel prices, just wait. Even more dismaying than forcing credit and debit card holders to pay upwards of $2.50 for merchant interchange fees when they pay at the pump, is the current Asian disaster.

The United Nations estimates 1.5 million people have been “severely affected” by the May 2nd cyclone that swept through Myanmar. The death toll in that Cyclone-ravaged region could hit hundreds of thousands of people. What are Visa and MasterCard doing? As far as we know, every time an electronic payment donation is sent to The American Red Cross and other relief efforts, the two leading credit card associations and their thousands of member banks make a profit. The interchange fee, which could be upwards of 2.0% from each donation is being delivered to financial institutions, rather than in direct aid to the people in need.

Even with this horrendously inappropriate level of profiteering, your help is needed. Our ScanMyPhotos.com blog: Tales from the World of Photo Scanning has more info on how you can help.

Even worse is that the American Red Cross is in violation of their credit card merchant agreement and is risking disqualification from Visa and MasterCard because nation’s premier emergency response organization demands a minimum electronic payment of $5.00.  Click here to read how they explain the merchant interchange fee issue.

Will Visa and MasterCard waive its interchange fees for American Red Cross and other related transactions? 

As the pressure grows for Citigroup Inc’s new CEO, Vikram Pandit to address the troubled bank’s missteps, I wonder whether he has the influence to make the call to Visa and MasterCard on behalf of all the card associations’ member banks? 

Are Visa and MasterCard Merchants Violating Their Rules?

“Tragedy of Dead and Survivors in Myanmar Grows Worse” (via Aung Hla Tun reporting for Reuters) 

Visa Inc. Makes Operating Regulations Available to the Public

Before reprinting today’s Visa Inc. press release, these thoughts:

Our merchant interchange antitrust litigation is based on many years of alleged illegal activities.  Just as if a convicted bank robber apologizes and cleans up their act, they are still in violation of the law.  So too are Visa and MasterCard.  Because most of the same banks that control a large percentage of Visa’s newly public shares are also owners of MasterCard, we expect that the same decision will be forthcoming by the other credit card association. 

Moving forward, this is a smart decision and one more confirming action that Visa recognizes that they were in error and are quickly trying to fix their business model; from creating an independent board, to less ownership by the banks, to posting interchange rates online (although mostly as an attempt to respond to merchant concerns) and now this.  

The Visa Inc. May 9th press release is reprinted below.

——————————–

Visa Inc. Makes Operating Regulations Available to the Public

Move Seeks to Increase Company’s Transparency

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, May 8, 2008
Visa Inc. announced today that it will for the first time make its Visa International and Regional Operating Regulations available publicly, effective May 15, 2008.

The Operating Regulations, which will be available on Visa’s corporate website at www.corporate.visa.com, are the set of rules which govern the participation of issuing and acquiring financial institutions in the Visa system.

 

“As Visa continues to evolve to meet the needs of customers, we are committed to providing our partners and interested parties with greater insight into Visa’s operations,” says Joseph W. Saunders, Chairman and CEO, Visa Inc.  “Greater transparency is one of the ways we hope to strengthen our working relationships in the marketplace.”

 

Previously, Visa Inc. made its Visa USA Operating Regulations available to merchants and third party agents under a non-disclosure agreement.  On May 15, Visa’s rules will be publicly available to interested parties, including all Visa rules related to merchants’ participation in the system.  However, to protect cardholder and merchant safety and the Visa system, Visa has omitted proprietary and competitive information, as well as certain details from the rules relating to the security of the network.  For example, in the merchant rules, Visa has omitted authorization limits by country and processing codes which could aid fraudsters.

 

“Today’s announcement builds on our commitment to making Visa transparent in an increasingly competitive environment,” adds Saunders.  “While our operating regulations only govern our client financial institutions, we believe that merchants and others will benefit from access to the rules, which provide a greater understanding of the complexities of electronic payments.”

 

Stop Unfair Credit Card Fees - Merchants Payments Coalition

Tell Your Elected Representatives to Support HR 5546, The Credit Card Fair Fee Act

Credit card fees known as interchange are hidden in the cost of nearly everything consumers buy. In 2006 alone, American consumers paid over $36 billion in credit card interchange fees. Even consumers who don’t use plastic pay more through higher prices. Visa issuers collectively set credit card interchange fees in secret and MasterCard issuers separately do the same. The fees can’t be negotiated and are not adequately disclosed to merchants or consumers.

Tell your elected representatives to support HR 5546, The Credit Card Fair Fee Act which stops the price-fixing by the credit card industry and provides an open and transparent process to negotiate credit card interchange fees.

Send your message now.  Click here.

[Source: UnfairCreditCardFees.com]

 

CNBC Interview with Mallory Duncan, Chairman of the Merchants Payments Coalition and Rhonda Bentz, Vice President, Visa USA

Click hBentz, ere to view the CNBC News segment.

Merchants do not have a “wonderful relationship” with Visa and MasterCard. Fact is we are suing them for what could amount to hundreds of billions of dollars in antitrust violations.

There is no transparency for inter interchange fees. Ask any merchant what any single electronic payment transaction was. If Visa and MasterCard want transparency, post the exact charge on every credit card receipt.  Posting upwards of one-hundred pages on their website with encrypted interchange fee codes is not transparent.

Consumers do not know that they are being charged nearly 2% in interchange fees.

Interchange fees are illegally set by Visa, MasterCard and its member banks.  This is illegal and identical to what the railroads did in the 1800s which forced the creation of the Sherman Antitrust act.

There is no  competition.  Visa and MasterCard control 80% of the entire electronic payment network.  The fees are not competitive, any more than OPEC is competitive with its similar cartel-like pricing.

“Congress Takes on Gasoline Prices” (via CNNMoney)

• “The hearing was held by the House Judiciary Committee’s Task Force on Competition Policy and Antitrust Laws. It was delayed more than an hour due to prolonged votes on the House floor, according to a Judiciary Committee spokesman.”
• “Bill Douglass, chief executive of gas retailer distributor Douglass Distributing Co. also noted that credit card companies collect 9 cents per gallon of gas sold, leaving many retailers with no profit from the gas they sell.”

  Click here to read the CNNMoney May 7th article 

More Bank Profiteering from Record Crude-Oil

Where are the U.S. presidential candidates on the issue of Visa and MasterCard’s merchant interchange fees? 

Their silence is almost as concerning as are their lack of initiatives to boost support for the U.S. currency.  With today’s news that crude-oil futures reached a record of $121.49 a barrel, more attention must be directed to Visa and MasterCard’s cartel scheme to force service stations, all merchants and consumers to hand over more than $40 billion each year in questionable merchant interchange fees. 

If the presidential candidates really wanted to draw attention to unfair gas hikes, they should look beyond temporary tax fixes and instead demand that Visa, MasterCard and its member banks address this issue and how it impacts our nation’s economic energy crisis.  Each motorist fill-up means that Visa and MasterCard’s member banks reap upwards of $2.50 when credit cards are used.  Think of the trucking industry and the cost for diesel fuel and how much more money is being syphoned off and into the pockets of Visa and MasterCard and its member banks.

This interchange fee system is long broken, antiquated and must be fixed.  The national media attention’s spotlight on the presidential candidates would be an ideal forum to supplement what WayTooHigh.com - The Credit Card Interchange Report has been championing for more than three years.

Payments and Banking Blogs

From PaymentsNews.com, they have assembled a link to several of the most recent and favorite payments and banking blogs. 

• Aneace’s Blog by Aneace Haddad
• Bankervision by James Gardner
• Banking Kismet by George Pasley
• Banking on Customers by Thad Peterson
• Banking Unwired by Ehab Bandar
• The Bankwatch by Colin Henderson
• The Digital Money Forum Blog by Dave Birch
• The FinanSer by Chris Skinner
• Forte Financial Blog by Erin McCune
• Javelin Strategy & Research Blog
• Mobile Banking by Brandon McGee
• Merchant Account Blog by Jamie Estep
• NetBanker by Jim Bruene
• OneTouch Online Purchasing Blog
• Payments Industry Thoughts by Will Burns
• Payment Systems Blog by David Bergert
• The Official PayPal Blog
• PIN Debit Blog
• WayTooHigh - The Credit Card Interchange Report

No to Clinton-McCain Gas Tax Holiday; Yes to Permanent Interchange Fee Holiday

Two of the presidential candidates jumped into the nation’s economic energy crisis today by proposing a “gas tax holiday” to save motorists money. 

Senator Barack Obama, was smart and chose not to side with Senator’s Clinton and McCain.   And, if the presidential hopeful really want to make an impact, rather than just reducing the record prices at the pumps by temporarily lowering taxes, he should demand that Visa and MasterCard immediately remove their merchant interchange fees at all service stations.  Just look at both card association’s record earnings this week [28% quarterly increase for Visa and more than doubling for MasterCard] to understand why this is a national imperative.  There is a reason Visa and MasterCard’s stocks are soaring - windfall profiteering at the pumps

The argument that American’s are entering the peak driving season, and thus will increase demand on prices is wrong.  Motorists are driving less, and getting rid of their gas guzzling vehicles in exchange for more economical automobiles.  Even at ScanMyPhotos.com, we are providing free gas cards to help soften the effects from consumers driving less. Last week, The Los Angeles Times and the Associated Press reported on our campaign for providing free gas.

So far, none of the presidential candidates have pointed fingers at Visa and MasterCard and its member banks for their windfall profiteering from charging upwards of $2.50 in credit card interchange fees every time a motorist fills-up with a credit card.

“Gas Tax Holiday is a Dumb Idea:” Robert Reich

You Have to Hand it to MasterCard’s Spokesperson, Sharon Gamsin

Today’s Associated Press story, “Charges Fly Over Shops’ Credit-Card Fees:  Retailers, Credit Card Companies Battle Over ‘Biggest Credit Card Fee You’ve Never Heard Of,’” has a new twist.

Click here to read the article.

MasterCard’s spokesperson, Sharon Gamsin explained that “The company’s interchange rate has risen less than the rate of inflation…”  Nice point if you didn’t understand that the same technology, innovations and unparalleled growth of telecommunications services that make electronic payments more efficient.  These Moore’s Law advances that should bring down costs (every 18 months costs should be reduced in half) have led to international phone calls for just pennies a minute, a trilobite of memory for a few hundred dollars and so on. 

The point is that MasterCard and Visa’s credit card cartel and its interchange fee pricing structure should not be put in the same equation as the rate of inflation.  These are not eggs and milk; it’s an electronic payment network that relies to a grater degree on the logic of Moore’s Law.  If that were the case, then lap top computers, cell phones and other technology products would be rising, not declining.

As for the price of an international phone call, could you imagine what it would be pre-phone card and back when AT&T held its anticompetitive monopoly?

 

What Does Microsoft, Google and Yahoo Have in Common With Visa and MasterCard?

Visa Inc: Olympic Torch Relay in SF

If today’s near debauchery in an American city over the Olympic torch relay is any indication of what’s to come, Visa Inc. and its Olympic sponsorship must also be in question. The International Olympic Committee and the world is watching, so too are the millions of merchants that accept Visa, along with the millions of Visa cardholders. The opposition to the Beijing Olympics is gaining attention and ferocity. The message over this summer’s Olympics is clear and if you thought Visa and MasterCard’s interchange battle was cemented in protest, just wait.

YouTube scenes from protesters in U.S. on April 9th

YouTube!

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Visa 2008 Olympic Games National Promotion

“Confusion along San Francisco Olympic torch route” (via Reuters)

 

 

 

 

 

“The Credit-Card Fee Market Isn’t Working” (via WSJ)

Click here to read the April 8th Wall Street Journal “Letter to the editor” from Rep. John Conyers (D., Mich.), Chairman House Judiciary Committee and Rep. Chris Cannon (R., Utah), Ranking Member House Judiciary Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law.

—————————————————-

In the Journal’s March 29 editorial, “Credit-Card Wars,” you note that, “as consumers we’d like to see interchange fees come down too, but through market innovation and competition, not Congressional fiat.” We agree. That’s why we introduced the bipartisan Credit Card Fair Fee Act: It facilitates direct negotiations between merchants and the credit card industry on interchange fees.

This approach is necessary because of concerns about coordinated price fixing among issuers leading to less competition and higher rates. For example, Visa has increased the average interchange rate 17% (26 basis points) in recent years despite dramatically improved processing technology and rapidly rising card volume. As the Journal notes, “Economies of scale should be driving [interchange] fees down, as in most other service-fee industries.”

In fact, Americans pay nearly three times as much on average as Europeans in credit-card interchange fees for the same set of services — nearly 2% of every retail purchase. This amounts to nearly $36 billion imposed on consumers through higher retail prices. And the interchange fee is the largest credit-card fee of all — dwarfing credit-card late fees, over-the-limit fees, balance transfer fees, annual fees, inactivity fees, penalty interest fees, and even ATM bank fees.

Yet the editorial says the market will ride to the rescue and bring down excessive credit-card interchange fees. That is unlikely unless there are negotiations and proceedings as set forth in our legislation. In an economy in which, as the Journal notes, credit transactions are now king and cash has been dethroned, how can the vast majority of merchants turn down plastic from the two major credit-card companies, who control approximately 80% of the market?

We introduced the Credit Card Fair Fee Act to create an open and transparent environment that doesn’t exist today, one that will not only spur the major credit-card companies to negotiate fairly on interchange but also to provide the opening for lower-cost interchange credit-card brands. Our bill would lead to competitive market-based interchange rates and terms.

Rep. John Conyers (D., Mich.)
Chairman
House Judiciary Committee

Rep. Chris Cannon (R., Utah)
Ranking Member
House Judiciary Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law
Washington

“Costs Are ‘Killing’ Gas-station Owners” (via Herald Ledger)

Click here to read the article reported by Jennifer Hewlett in the Herald Ledger on April 7.

Excerpt:

Credit card interchange fees are “killing” convenience stores that sell gasoline, says Roth Bullock, who owns 16 such stores in Kentucky and Indiana.  Since 2000, 12 to 14 large companies operating convenience stores in Kentucky have gone bankrupt, and credit card fees are a big part of the reason, he said.

For every dollar spent on gasoline using a credit card, about 2 cents goes to the credit card company. Credit card interchange fees have risen dramatically in the past several years, and more and more people are using credit cards, as well as debit cards, which also carry fees, to pay for gas.

“It’s the second-largest expense we have besides payroll. It is double what utilities are,” said Bullock, owner of Bullock Oil Co., which operates Cowboy’s Food Stores in Kentucky and Indiana.

“Richard Maxedon, executive director of the Kentucky Petroleum Marketers Association, said that many small gasoline retailers in Kentucky are selling out to larger operators because they can’t afford to stay in business any longer, in part because of card fees.

Two Chinese Companies [Government] Bails Out The Banks Through Visa Inc. Shell Game

If you watched 60 Minutes on Sunday evening, you heard a frightening scenario that the Chinese government might be gaining unreasonable power, influence and control of U.S. businesses, especially in the financial services sector.

According to the Teshreen Press and Publishing Foundation, two Chinese nationals now own ~$400,000,000 in Visa, Inc., which means that those two recent checks totaling nearly 1/2 billion dollars to the banks - which owned the giant credit card processing cartel - was paid off by China.  This raises so many concerns, from attention towards Visa’s Olympic sponsorship, how interchange merchant fees are structured in China, to questions of whether Visa and its member banks might gang up with China to wound the sovereignty of Taiwan?

We wonder whether Visa Inc cardholders understand these ramifications and the Chinese connection?

• China Life purchased nearly ~300 million dollars in Visa Inc.

• China’s Sovereign Wealth Fund also bought ~$100 million dollars in Visa Inc.

Click here for more information.

[NEWS UPDATE: Olympic Torch Snuffed Out In Paris]

 

“Visa Europe Says It Expects to Strike Deal With EU to End Antitrust Probe” (UPDATE via AP)

Click here to read the AP article in The Financial Times

Will the government Bail Out Visa and MasterCard Next?

We’re just saying… based on the rash of Federal Reserve and government bail outs to the financial services industry, we can’t help but wonder whether the next target for a giant handout will be Visa, MasterCard and its thousands of member banks when payment due on their merchant interchange antitrust liability comes do, as we expect it will?

Will Wall Street and regulators explain away that the banks again will need financial support to cover their multi billion dollar antitrust liability, should they be found guilty of illegal price-fixing? 

Visa and MasterCard’s Interchangee Fee “Adjustments”

[UPDATE, original post on April 1st]

Based on the letter sent to Chase Paymentech customers, we were advised that the announced Visa and MasterCard interchange fee “adjustments” would take place on April 1 and be posted on their website.  Well, it’s April 1st and Visa still has the old rates listed. 

[Editors note, (April 3) We just checked back today and noticed that Visa's new fee schedule is now online, but try to figure out what each individual payment transaction charge is and why is Visa's only five pages when the MasterCard schedule is more than one-hundred?]

At least MasterCard complied and has the new 103 page rate schedule posted, but click here to see if you can guess what the heck is going on.  

For us, the best part of MasterCard’s [April Fool's Day] posting was this gem: “… MasterCard has no involvement in acquirer and merchant pricing policies or agreements.”  Good stuff, except when you understand that those that did were the thousands of banks, and with representation  on MasterCard’s board of directors which owned MasterCard, prior to the IPO and still maintains a nearly 50% investment.

MasterCard U.S. and Interregional Interchange Rate Programs