Talk of The Villages Florida - View Single Post - Are We being Forced into paying with Cash
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Old 07-19-2025, 12:39 PM
retiredguy123 retiredguy123 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Pugchief View Post
Most small businesses are paying in the neighborhood of 3.5% + per item fee + monthly fee + extra fees for rewards cards. Debit cards (PIN based, not signature which is processed like a credit card) is typically a flat fee (maybe 50 cents) regardless of the sale amount.

While I am generally opposed to any government involvement in the private market, with the volume of CC sales these days, some major reform would go a long way toward improving the economy. There is no reason to have the insane amount of fees, variability in transaction costs, and high percentages charged.
Personally, I think that most small businesses could not survive without credit card sales. They are free to require customers to pay cash or to pay a fee to use a credit card, but most do not because they would lose sales. The banks are providing a convenient means for customers to pay with a credit card and the merchants benefit in increased sales and guaranteed receipt of their money. The banks make most of their money from high interest payments made by customers who cannot manage their cash flow. For the banks and the merchants, it is a win-win situation. More Government regulation of credit card fees would hurt both banks and merchants. My opinion.