Global Breaking News - Monday, December 23, 2024

Capping Swipe Fees
A United States district court last week overturned a Federal Reserve rule capping the debit card fees that banks collect from merchants. The judge said the caps, which were 21 cents a transaction (down from an average of about 44 cents), were too high. The European Commission has proposed to cap interchange, or swipe, fees at 0,2 percent for debit cards and 0.3 percent for credit cards (in the U.S., they are on average 2.5 percent of every transaction and can be as high as 4 percent). Should the U.S. do the same?
* district court = 지방 법원/ overturn = (판결 등을) 뒤집다(번복시키다)/ cap = (액수의) 한도를 정하다  

 신용카드 또는 직불(현금)카드 사용에 요구되는 수수료에 한도를 정하는게 옳은가요?

1. A Blatantly Anticompetitive Practice
Merchants should have real choices in how their card transactions are processed, and they should know what it costs to swipe.

2. Swipe Fee Caps Don’t Benefit Consumers
In countries that have capped interchange fees, retailers haven’t passed the savings on to consumers.

3. Down With the Big Swipe
The European Union’s proposal to limit interchange fees provides a good model for regulatory reform in the United States.

4. Electronic Payment Is Valuable
Service providers incur costs for their services and deserve to charge a market-based rate to their customers.

5. In Europe, We Want a Level Playing Field
Limiting credit card fees may also address some of the reasons why Europeans shop online much less than Americans do.

Sample Essay

In Europe, We Want a Level Playing Field

The European Commission, which is the executive arm of the European Union, has backed new laws on payments, including new limits on fees for card payments (0.3 percent of the total transaction for credit cards and 0.2 percent for debit card). This will bring more transparency and fairness to a market where consumers have long been the victim of questionable practices.

The market shouldn’t be left to banks and credit card providers alone. We want to ensure a level playing field in the E.U. so new companies can compete to offer greater convenience, security and fair pricing. This should also address some of the reasons why Europeans shop online much less than Americans do.

Credit cards are expensive, and yet they are often the only form of payment accepted by Web sites. Consumers also face very different prices in different European countries for exactly the same service. This is at odds with the convenience and value that online shopping is supposed to provide. At the same time many feel uneasy sharing their credit card details over the Internet. So we say that it should be easier to buy online without a credit card, and when you do use one it shouldn’t be a rip-off.

Millions of Americans are familiar with the surcharges laid down by some airlines, to give just one example, which they label as “credit card fees.” In reality these transactions only cost a couple of cents to process. But consumers can face charges of over $10 per transaction in some cases.

By having a single set of rules that increase transparency and fairness in the payments market we can deliver benefits of 1 percent of G.D.P. to the European economy.

What's more, it's the right thing to do for consumers.