As technology has vastly improved the efficiency and speed of many services, we've come to expect cost-savings as a by-product.  If something requires less time and manpower, it makes sense that it should cost the provider less to provide and, in turn, the purchaser less to purchase. Almost 20 years ago, when digital scanning came into [...]...

According to The Travel Pirates blogger, Europe's Ryanair is violating Visa and MasterCard merchant rules by charging extra for in-flight electronic payment transactions.  Click here to read more.  Where are the bank's advocacy groups on this issue?  I don't seem to have noticed any news releases on this subject from the American Bankers Association or community bank associations, or [...]...

See below abstract from the Diamond Management & Technology Consultants report by Amy Dawson and Carl Hugener: Credit and debit cards have been a major profit engine for issuing banks, but legal and possible regulatory challenges to the interchange model spell trouble for both issuing banks and the card associations that support them, MasterCard and Visa. [...]...

A bill that would allow merchants to negotiate interchange fees directly with credit card companies cleared a hurdle this week. In a 19 to 16 vote, the House Judiciary Committee approved the Credit Card Fair Fee Act of 2008. And what exactly are interchange fees? You may not know this but every time you use your [...]...

ScanMyPhotos.com and 30 Minute Photos Etc. are not waiting for the closing bell to ring out what is a nearly $50 billion annual hidden tax on Americans.  While Visa and MasterCard and its highly paid advocacy groups suggest that merchants will simply pocket the savings, they are again wrong. I understand why they are incorrect in [...]...