Banks cash in on credit card transaction fees
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has said banks are charging far too much for retailers to process credit card, debt card and store card transactions, compared to cash. Whenever a card transaction takes place retailers pay a charge in the region of £0.17 for every £20.00. Charges on cash come to £0.04 for every £20.00.
Kevin Hawkins, a director of the BRC has commented accused banks of fueling the consumer switch from cash to cards in order to increase their profits. He said “Banks have long abused their position by imposing much higher charges on retailers for processing card payments than cash, clearly the banks have spotted that replacing cash with cards would mean a further boost to their profits.”
A recent survey from the BRC shows cash is still used for 32% of all money spent in shops.
You might be glad to hear the use of cheques has almost disappeared completely, no more waiting in a queue while someone, searches for their cheque book, finds a pen, gets the pen to work, asks the cashier ‘how much was that?’ & ‘who’s it made payable to?’ as you hope they don’t rip the cheque in half as they rush to remove it from the book!
From a consumer point of view it’s not surprising that card transactions are on the up, with a small clan of zero percent purchase credit cards to choose from. Maybe Mr Hawkins is correct in his comments, but for the savvy consumer; surely they must take advantage of the banks zero per cent credit card offers? Forget the ‘credit crunch’, most people right now are too busy thinking ‘Christmas Crunch, how much it will cost me this year?’
If you’re worrying how much Christmas will hit you for this time take a look or apply now for one of these fantastic credit cards;
Balance transfers and Christmas shopping!
Barclaycard Flexi-Rate - 0% for 10 months on balance transfers AND purchases for 10 months - 2.5% Balance Transfer Fee. 14.9% Typical APR (variable). Click here to apply now…
Barclaycard Life of Balance Special – 5.9% on balances transferred, for the life of the balance AND 0% on purchases for 10 months. 14.9% Typical APR (variable). Apply here now…
So if you have a balance to transfer you can take advantage of the zero percent interest rate whilst still shopping for your Christmas goodies at zero percent, giving you until August 2008 to clear the Christmas Chruch…
Cashback credit cards this Christmas!
Barclaycard Cashback - 2% on supermarket and petrol purchases, 0.5% Cashback on all other purchases. 0% interest on balance transfers for 12 months from the date your account is opened – 2.5% Balance Transfer Fee. 14.9% Typical APR (variable). Apply here now…
Capital One Cashback – 4% on ALL purchases in the first 3 months & then 1% Cashback on all purchases after the first 3 months.15.9% Typical APR (variable). Click here to apply now… If you always clear your balance and use your credit card simply as a cash replacement, then Cashback cards are probably the best way to reward your spending. Happy Xmas shopping!
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www.ConsumerDirect.com
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