Paying With Cash Could Soon Pay Off
Retailers could get more aggressive about levying higher prices on customers using credit cards under a measure being considered in the U.S. Senate.
As part of a sweeping bill to change the rules for credit cards, a pair of senators are pushing to lift constraints that Visa, MasterCard and other credit card networks impose on merchants’ ability to offer discounts for paying by cash or check.
Retailers have long chafed under the restrictions, which make it burdensome for them to make transparent to consumers the fees they pay to credit card companies. Those fees amount to tens of billions of dollars a year. The result, they complain, is that cash-paying customers unfairly end up sharing the cost of letting other customers buy on credit.
"Cash customers pay a penalty because we take credit cards," said Jeff Miller, president of Miller Oil Co.
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