MSE News: EU agrees card charges shake-up, but will shoppers actually pay less?

atypical

cse wrote: »

The silver lining is that it doesn't affect Amex cards yet, and maybe there will still be some decent points-based schemes around

Amex will also be under pressure to reduce their fees. The reduction in Visa/Mastercard fees will make their already premium fees seem unjustified.

reclusive46

atypical wrote: »

Amex will also be under pressure to reduce their fees. The reduction in Visa/Mastercard fees will make their already premium fees seem unjustified.

Your forgetting, most smaller businesses won't see a saving from the interchange. The acquierers will just pocket the difference, so Amex won't be much different fee wise.

cardsguy

atypical wrote: »

Amex will also be under pressure to reduce their fees. The reduction in Visa/Mastercard fees will make their already premium fees seem unjustified.

Maybe this will force some retailers to simply drop support for Amex.
Perhaps we are slowly going they way of NL - where it is nearly impossible to use a regular Visa/Mastercard (even Debit) to pay for anything! They just accept their own bank-issue Maestro cards.

reclusive46

cardsguy wrote: »

Maybe this will force some retailers to simply drop support for Amex.
Perhaps we are slowly going they way of NL - where it is nearly impossible to use a regular Visa/Mastercard (even Debit) to pay for anything! They just accept their own bank-issue Maestro cards.

Why would the drop support for visa and MasterCard? The only reason they don't on NL a lot of the time is because Visa and MasterCard is so expensive. With the caps coming in, no domestic card is going to be any cheaper. Amex will keep up with the market there not stupid. In some places in NL and Germany there the only credit card accepted.

[Deleted User]

reclusive46 wrote: »

In some places in NL and Germany there the only credit card accepted.

The Netherlands has its own payment system called iDeal, which is independent from credit cards.

zerog

Prices at the shops will only increase if demand is inelastic.

Shops can only charge as much as people are willing to pay, card or not. They can only pass on credit card fees etc. if people will still buy the product whatever the price, otherwise the shop pays the fees.

Travelsaver

If people want to see the future, they only need to look at Australia where most retailers now charge if you use a credit card. Added to that, most reward programmes have been cut dramatically, so for those of us who try never to go into debt, this does spell disaster.

I'm pro Europe generally (although wanting reform), but in my eyes the EU should have pushed for all credit card vendors to offer one of these cards in addition to their usual offerings. This would have given those who need a low cost card a way forward, but also allowed those of us who don't need to debt portion to also maximise.

r2015

but will the savings be passed on?

No. the credit card companies will stop our cashback.

rodp_2

Funny you should say that r2015... I got a letter this morning (15/4/15) from capital one - saying they're going to stop my cashback due to "Changes in our industry mean it is no longer sustainable for us to offer cashback on your card" - however has a date actually been agreed of when the cap will be put in place??!

Rodp

r2015

Funny you should say that r2015

I was being sarcastic, have you not been reading this thread?

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5211486