It’s a silly system, where everyone has to invest their time (optimizing for rewards, avoiding interest) in an ultimately negative sum game. I hate it so much.
How credit card rewards became a $9.2B wealth transfer
31–40 of 473 posts
Re: How credit card rewards became a $9.2B wealth transfer
#32Earlier quoted context omitted.
Same, that percentage seems absurd though.
The only way I can interpret the percentage is that they are stating the increased cost as a percentage of sales tax rather than a percentage of the sale, such that "26% higher sales tax" in a state changing 10% sales tax would mean paying 2.4% more in total. That choice seems misleading, but does make the percentage make sense.
Re: How credit card rewards became a $9.2B wealth transfer
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
How generous are credit card rewards in the EU?
Presumably not very, because the large majority of Europeans do not use credit cards.
Re: How credit card rewards became a $9.2B wealth transfer
#34Important context: this is US thing. EU capped interchange fees at 0.2% for debit and 0.3% for credit cards. So in US card processing is x5-x10 more expensive.
To be more specific, this is a US credit card topic. Debit card fees are capped in the US, yet I’ve never received a discount from a merchant for paying with debit instead of credit. As such, I just pay with credit and have never understood this argument.
Re: How credit card rewards became a $9.2B wealth transfer
#35Important context: this is US thing. EU capped interchange fees at 0.2% for debit and 0.3% for credit cards. So in US card processing is x5-x10 more expensive.
To be more specific, this is a US credit card topic. Debit card fees are capped in the US, yet I’ve never received a discount from a merchant for paying with debit instead of credit. As such, I just pay with credit and have never understood this argument.
Re: How credit card rewards became a $9.2B wealth transfer
#36Important context: this is US thing. EU capped interchange fees at 0.2% for debit and 0.3% for credit cards. So in US card processing is x5-x10 more expensive.
To be more specific, this is a US credit card topic. Debit card fees are capped in the US, yet I’ve never received a discount from a merchant for paying with debit instead of credit. As such, I just pay with credit and have never understood this argument.
Re: How credit card rewards became a $9.2B wealth transfer
#37I always wondered why people in America would ever pay by cash or credit card - unless they are laundering that cash. Otherwise, you're giving up 1-3% discount. Set auto-pay on your credit card to pay in full every month. I've never once paid for credit card interest. I think there's a term inside credit card companies for people like me: leeches or something like that.
Re: How credit card rewards became a $9.2B wealth transfer
#38> Because merchants charge everyone the same price regardless of how they pay, those fee costs are factored into prices for all shoppers. However, credit card users get that money back and then some through rewards, while cash and debit users get little or nothing. >The result: People paying cash face the equivalent of a 26% higher sales tax than premium credit card users shopping at the same store. I am surprised th…
Many restaurants I’ve eaten at lately surcharge credit cards with a 3% fee, offering a discount if you pay cash. This is the way to nullify this regressive policy until the US commercial banking system offers instant payments for merchants, internalizing the externality of the interchange fee. If you pay with card, you US FedNow instant payments went live three years ago, and can move $10M per transaction for a few p…
Credit cards are convenient and cash isn't. The genie is out of the bottle, no way to make people move back to cash.
Re: How credit card rewards became a $9.2B wealth transfer
#39Re: How credit card rewards became a $9.2B wealth transfer
#40Important context: this is US thing. EU capped interchange fees at 0.2% for debit and 0.3% for credit cards. So in US card processing is x5-x10 more expensive.
Still affects us as sticker prices are not set independently. Even if you exclusively buy locally, $ = € is extremely common for MSRP.