When UW-Milwaukee student Stephanie Voss refueled at the Shell station on Hampton Avenue in Whitefish Bay on a recent weekday, she was a bit surprised to learn that banks will earn a 3 percent profit from her gas purchase. “I knew the credit card took a percentage, but I never realized that included gas, too,” Voss said.
Between 1 and 7 percent of credit card sales go to the cardholder’s bank, the merchant’s bank, and the card processors (American Express, MasterCard or Visa) instead of Wisconsin merchants, according to the Wisconsin Dept. of Financial Institutions.
This is not only NOT news; it's part of a campaign begun by WallyWorld (!). Banks and credit unions spend a lot of money for systems which enable debit/credit transactions. They don't "make" 3 to 7 percent; they GROSS 3 to 7%.
But they also pay for the systems, infrastructure, and staff behind the computer screen.
Doh.
2 comments:
Interesting side note:
I have been to a few different small businesses that require either a "minimum amount" to use a credit card or in some cases, they attempt to charge a fee.
Whenever this occurs, I inform the owner that they are breaking the agreement that they have with their merchant processor and they have to honor my purchase. You can seriously charge any amount you want - I do it all the time.
Wow,nice, one of the best read posts so far.
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