ScarletHeartbreaking: Trusted major news organisation confidently reports incredible misconceptions about the industry you're an expert in as fact.
I guess “this is all because of the Visa/Mastercard duopoly” is easier to explain than “this is the result of a complex regulatory environment and incentives that are largely driven by government policy, which is broadly better for society at the margins than the direct alternative”.
The same piece confidently described interchange fees as going to the networks, which again is totally wrong. Also compared US *acquirer* fees directly to EU *interchange* fees without mentioning that the EU regulated interchange and that this is a policy choice with economic tradeoffs. 🙃
“credit card acceptance fees have gone up in the US since the pandemic” and the reason is fascinating!
It's not Visa/Mastercard being greedy, it's an arms race by banks to produce higher tier and more exclusive cards to capture more interchange revenue and fund more generous rewards programs! (See: Chase Sapphire Reserve, which got an entirely new card tier added to the interchange rate table so Chase could compete with Amex's US rewards program.)
210561 ✨ [Q]@scarlet I wonder how much of this is a downstream effect of Amex simply existing and being as they are