@Anonymous wrote:Talking about lower costs for consumers as a whole, not just credit card holders. So you want credit card rewards and do it via spending and one time bonuses. Others want rewards via churning, and others via MS. My point is that getting rewards on ccs at least in theory increase costs for all, so you are "ruining it for everybody" yourself
Except that there is no evidence for this at all. So far, countries that have severely limited interchange fees have seen little to no benefits for consumers. Even the European Parliament as they endorsed a 0.3% interchange fee on credit cards estimated that the annual benefit to consumers would be chump change (730 Million Euros - that is a whopping ONE EURO per card per year) compared to the benefit retailers are likely to reap (6 Billion Euros).
It also makes logical sense. One of the key arguments retailers make for tough caps on CC transactions is that for many retailers the margin is already thin and even a small ding to accept card payments hurts. Well, the very fact that margins are slim means that they cannot just pass the cost onto the consumer, because if they could they would already be charging higher prices.
The argument that European style capping of fees (some capping is probably OK but not what Europe is doing) will benefit the consumer as a whole has very little basis in evidence, and far more basis in retailer profits. It does not, in fact, benefit consumers - rather by taking away bank's ability to give rewards, it hurts consumers.
