The Wall Street Journal reported on Aug. 30 that, according to company documents it had seen and sources it had spoken with, Visa and Mastercard would be raising interchange fees – that is, the fees charged to merchants when they accept customer credit cards. The rise was to occur this October and in April of next year.
On Sept. 5, Mastercard released a statement saying that it is “not raising interchange rates in the U.S. this fall and has no plans to do so.” It also says that the only fee mentioned in the study cited by the WSJ is the Authorization Optimizer service, which is “not related to interchange” and is “designed to reduce the likelihood that subscription and recurring payments will be declined, with any related fees being de minimis in scope.”
“The article notes,” Mastercard continues, “that Congress is considering legislation that could potentially lower costs for merchants, yet it fails to mention the negative consequences for consumers – compromised security, a loss of rewards programs and higher prices on goods and services.”
Visa, for its part, also responded on Sept 5 in a blog post. “Our overall interchange fees on Visa transactions have been flat for the past decade,” it reads. “Moreover, over the past three years, Visa has introduced programs to lower interchange for the vast majority of small businesses in the United States.” It goes on to say: “Efforts by special interest groups to challenge these facts in the press are simply inaccurate and disappointing.”
In response to an inquiry from Reuters, the WSJ has said, “We stand by our reporting.”
