A leading consumer activist has called fears that significant numbers of merchants might begin to surcharge credit card payments in order to recoup interchange costs the result of a “PR campaign” from Visa and MasterCard.
Ed Mierzwinski, consumer program director for the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, wrote in a blog entry that some people have been “snookered” by the campaign into being afraid that merchants would charge the surcharge, but added that US PIRG did not believe this would happen.
US PIRG doubted this would happen primarily because merchants would not want to upset their customers, Mierzwinski said.
“The threat of surcharging, which would lower credit card use (and therefore bank profits, which the banks wouldn't like) may help merchants negotiate lower swipe fees, but we simply don't think many merchants will surcharge their customers,” he wrote in the Feb. 2 entry. “In addition, 40% of all consumers live in 10 large states (California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Oklahoma and Texas) that prohibit surcharging by state law. The settlement does not override these state laws.”
Mierzwinski and US PIRG are on record supporting the merchants' side in the litigation over credit card interchange.
Complete your profile to continue reading and get FREE access to CUTimes.com, part of your ALM digital membership.
Your access to unlimited CUTimes.com content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking credit union news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Weekly Shared Accounts podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical coverage of the commercial real estate and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, GlobeSt.com and ThinkAdvisor.com
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
