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Originally Posted by dewilson58
Same fee for debit cards???
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Most "Debit Cards" are issued by VISA or MasterCharge. The internal process is essentially the same, whether it's credit or debit. The fee however, are different.
There are only 5-6 companies in the USA, that actually "process" these things. Then there's an intermediate processor that is the conduit between the business you're doing business with and the actual processor.
In general, one of the highest processing fees are charge for the hospitality business, I suspect, because of the high-risk in the transient business. While the direct and obvious charge will usually be a hair under 2%, that doesn't recognize the transaction fee that's assessed to every transaction (I *think* that fee is about 8ยข) and an increase if you're using a "Rewards Card". Over the course of a year, the average credit card fees for a restaurant, is likely to average close to 3.0% - 3.5%. (I just checked one of our hospitality businesses and for the month of July, we were at 2.5%. We have an extremely low rate, based on our history and volume.)
All that said, it used to be considered the "cost of doing business". If a business didn't take CC's, they figured they would lose significant business, so they absorbed the fees.
Now it's just the norm and the convenience fee for that "cashless society" we've been promised for 10 years is now here and the consumer is paying for it.