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September
6, 2006
MasterCard
to Cap Interchange Fees for Gas Stations, Publish Fee Schedule
Online
In response to unhappy merchants who have both sued and lobbied
Congress over fees they pay to credit card companies, MasterCard
announced Wednesday it would begin publishing its interchange
fee schedule on its Web site at mastercardmerchant.com.
In addition, MasterCard announced a cap on interchange charges
for fuel purchases that it said could reduce fees by up to 21%
on some consumer gas purchases.
Interchange
fees are charges that merchants pay to accept credit cards in
their stores. The fees are paid to merchants' banks and companies
such as MasterCard and Visa. Each credit card transaction includes
a charge to the merchant of anywhere from one to three percent
plus a small flat fee.
Last
month, merchant groups testified
to the Senate Judiciary Committee that MasterCard and Visa
were unfairly raising interchange fees, citing the fact that
most merchants must accept credit cards to survive and thus
must swallow whatever fees MasterCard and Visa mandate. MasterCard's
move may have been a preemptive strike to avoid having Congress
stick its nose any further into the situation. Merchants also
have filed lawsuits over the same issues, with several currently
making their way through the court systems.
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