Banks 1 Consumers 0…….You can bank on it.

Consumers will get burned. Thanks for nothing, government! Stores will keep the same prices that they were charging so will get a silent raise in revenue. Banks will NOT allow themselves to lose money so the fee that used to be paid by the retail stores will now be passed to consumers through additional bank fees.

Agreed, it will be a win-win-lose on this one. Retailers will see their profit margins increase because there’s no way they will pass any savings on to the consumer. Banks will balk at having their profits reduced by a cap on debit fees so they will just make up for the lost income with other banking fees. Now we come to the ‘loser’ part of the equation – that will be you and I, the actual consumer who will continue to pay higher prices from the retailers along with higher banking fees! Boy am I glad the government is watching out for me!

When will they go after retailers who post those “Debit cart minimum” signs? Retailers who agree to accept credit/debit cards are not allowed to impose a minimum purchase price, they cannot refuse your card if you’re purchase is under a certain amount. Retailers do this because the smaller purchases are not worth it because they pay for each transaction. If they’d read the fine print in their contract, they can actually lose their machines if they refuse purchases. Call your bank and turn in any business who refuses your card or posts a sign stating a minimum purchase is required.