And then they will be "forced" to raise merchant fees yet again, which will be passed on to the consumer in the form of price increases on everything from gasoline to handbags. This is a no win situation for everyone except the banks, once again.
That's an old myth. Do some research. They make money from people who pay their balances in full every month too. Not as much as from someone who pays 29% and doesn't default but a profit nonetheless.
Actually it's a win for those living beyond their means because others will now be forced to pay some of what the CC companies used to charge those deepest in debt.
I agree with your comment, but the banks won't necessarily win. Demand for most things is pretty elastic. Thus, we can expect a drop in the amount demanded with an increase in price. This dumb congressional whim will merely raise the cost of credit across the board and drive demand to below where it would normally be in the absence of this market distortion. It will also change who the creditor is. Right now, I pay a lot of my bills via credit cards. The vendor receives his money right away and I pay the credit card company two weeks later. For that, they charge me an annual fee and a small periodic finance charge. If the credit card company begins to charge interest from the moment my credit card is charged, I will simply stop paying my phone bill with the credit card. The phone company will now have to wait to be paid the couple of weeks it takes to receive my check and it will have to finance its working capital.
True, but I guess my point was that as people stop using their CC's in protest, we will ALL ultimately suffer in the form of cost increases across the board ... except perhaps under some sort of dual pricing structure, as Tom B suggested. I wonder whether debit card payment would fall under the cash price or the credit price.
i thought the cc company gets the transaction fee. (visa discover etc.) and the banks (chase , B of A) get the rest.(lates fess interest) doesn't the bank set the cach rewards not visa or mastercard
Whenever I lost my credit card and had to rely on debit card or even cash....I spent ALOT less..and I pay my balance off monthly. They will loose alot of business.
If a merchant wants to accept a credit card they can't do this. It is part of the "agreement" with the credit card company to accept their cards. Here in Lincoln Park in Chicago there are a couple of places that recently stopped accepting credit cards. Perhaps a sign of things to come. I for one will join others in telling Visa and Discover to kiss my ass if they implement fees and immediate interest. Cash will be king.
Around here, the gas stations discount gas prices by 10 cents a gallon if you pay cash, and it's advertised on their signs.