In the end, it will have to be congress that addresses the costs of credit card fees from issuers. As has been pointed out above, it is not optional for small business whether to accept them.
You can find out your representative contact info here:
http://www.contactingthecongress.org/
I know I have done this before, but I rewrote it and sent it again today: (feel free to copy)
Dear Representative,
In the world of small business today the huge majority of payments are made by credit card. I own two small businesses. In one, credit card payments are between 90-95% of all payments, in the other they are between 75-80%. The decision to accept them is not optional in today’s economy. Credit cards are a financial utility in our economy and, like any utility, the fees they charge should be regulated.
The card issuers are in heated competition with each other to control share of this lucrative business. This is understandable. They offer tangible benefits to the consumer to compete with other card issuers. When I compete with my competitors I seek to offer value as well, but I have to pay for whatever costs I incur offering that value. This is not the case with the card issuers. The costs of the “points” they offer are passed through to the merchant who accepts the card in higher fees. This is unfair and should not be the case.
A number of years ago the fees charged by credit card processors were challenged and to some extent brought under control. This is NOT what I am talking about. Processor fees are a small piece of the pie. It is the card ISSUER who controls 95% of the fee that ends up being charged to the merchant and this is where these consumer benefits are being passed along improperly.
It is particularly galling to pay high fees on affinity cards that give consumer points to be spent at businesses which are my competitors. I can not think of another industry where this is the case. Imagine if every time you bought a Ford it gave you points toward the purchase of a Subaru and Ford was forced to pay for those points… If the card issuer wants to give away airline tickets to attract consumers to have and use the card they issue, that is fine, but the cost of offering that benefit should not be passed through to me in the form of higher fees on each transaction when I have no choice but to pay it.
Credit card fees now cost small businesses more than insurance and more than electric utilities and more than broadband services all of which have costs regulated in the interests of having a strong economy. Please regulate the credit card issuers as a utility. The fees they are allowed to charge should be controlled in the interest of an efficient economy. They should not be permitted to pass through customer acquisition costs in the form of higher fees for high benefit cards.
