theshortofit

IMO, If surcharging really takes off, I think it will make Visa and MasterCard more accountable for their rate increase or at least think twice about it. I say this because with surcharging the merchants will pass the rate increases on to the customers and point the finger at Visa/MC. You might see the consumers then going to his or her Congress people both state an federal saying WTF! That's when the shit might hit the fan. That's why Visa and MC fought surcharging in courts they don't want to be held accountable. Stay tuned

Rumor has it that Opt Blue Wholesale rates are going up by 10 pts in a few months

Good post!

I don't know if its true or not but heard that Costco with this new deal with Visa is only paying a flat 40bps in interchange cost. Now that's a deal!!

IMHO, the Card Brands are an Oligopoly Industry so they have pricing power and therefore raise prices because they can. Add on the fact they are public companies with their investors ( your list) hounding them for better returns leads to price increase abuses.

Actually Visa's Credit Assessment rate is .14%. They raised their prices by 1bpt in January 2019 and wrote themselves a $500 Million check by doing so. This is one of the reasons why Visa's stock performs so well over time.

All processors ( FDC, Worldpay, Global Payments etc) are required to report credit card sales for each of their customers through 1099 reporting , This reporting is done on what is called a MID ( Merchant Identification)number. Every merchant accepting credit cards has one ( sometimes multiple)

Some processors charge merchants for this reporting services to the IRS which further drives up Merchant Services cost.