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business credit card

EU to avoid big revamp of business credit cards

By David Lawsky and Huw Jones found at today.reuters.com 

BRUSSELS, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Neelie Kroes' report on EU retail financial services will stop far short of the actions urged by retailers, who want a ban on the complicated fee structure that has come under attack in Australia and other jurisdictions.

The two dominant credit card operators, Visa Europe and MasterCard (MA.N: Quote, Profile , Research) are likely to breathe a sigh of relief.

The source said the European Commission was reluctant to make radical changes as this would require credit card companies to find a new business model.

Under the current system, the retailer's bank pays the card issuer's bank an interchange fee -- a percentage of each purchase -- to process card-based transactions.

Peter Ayliffe, president of Visa Europe, has urged Kroes not to seek fundamental changes to the interchange fee structure, such as scrapping them.

He wanted recognition from Kroes that the interchange fee was essential for running a payment card system

The Forum for International Retail Association Executives, which represents shops and other merchants that accept credit cards, has said too little competition has allowed Visa and MasterCard to "extract excessive fees from retailers".

The antitrust office in Poland, an EU member state, has decided to ban interchange fees, however.

And the Reserve Bank of Australia took action last year to cut interchange fees substantially, but Visa Europe said the move bumped up costs for retailers and the same thing would happen in the EU.

The Commission struck an agreement with Visa in 2002, forcing it to cut interchange fees by the end of 2007 in return for not being subject to the full thrust of EU antitrust rules.

The EU executive is also looking at MasterCard's practice of setting interchange fees.

Visa Europe has warned that scrapping interchange fees would jeopardise EU plans to create a cheaper cross-border payments system for the bloc's consumers and companies.

© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.

Credit Card Gouging 

Published on 1/29/2007 in http://www.theday.com 

U.S. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, who is campaigning for president, is using his bully pulpit as chairman of the Senate Banking Committee effectively to put banks and other credit card issuers on notice about their practices. Sen. Dodd called together academic experts and financial industry leaders at a Senate hearing the other day.

Sen. Dodd is concerned about the billing, marketing and disclosure policies and practices of the credit card industry. Too often, credit card companies virtually harass consumers by flooding them with checks they can make out to get, in effect, instant loans from the company. These loans often are for low rates for short periods before the companies slap on very high interest rates.

Another favorite tactic is to load heavy interest charges on customers who get cash advances. Then, consumers are charged 18, 19, 20 or more percent for the cash advances. Not until they are fully paid do lower rates kick in for the reminder of a person's debt from purchases of merchandise, for example.

The credit card companies also charge large fees for transferring a balance from one card to another, or offer low introductory card rates for a limited period before slapping on interest rates that can be 18 percent or more. Even the practice of showing the minimum monthly payment a customer must make can lead to consumers paying too little each month, so that very high interest rates cause the person's debt to spiral upward precipitously.

The average American household has more than $9,300 in credit card debt, or about 20 percent of the median household income of $46,000 in 2005.

“...I would like to put the credit card industry, issuing banks and card associations on notice. If you currently engage in any business practice that you would be ashamed to discuss before this committee, I would strongly encourage you to cease and desist that practice,” the veteran Connecticut lawmaker said.

Good for Sen. Dodd for pressuring the card companies to do what's right. Of course when Sen. Dodd mentions shame, he forgets that the credit card companies have no shame or else they wouldn't commit the chicanery they do in the first place. 

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