You May Soon Be Paying More To Use Your Credit Card

You can ask anyone, I never carry cash anymore.  I use my debit card or credit card where ever I go.   In fact, I bet if I asked most people, they would say they don’t carry cash anymore either!  But what if you were offered a discount at restaurants or stores to use cash, would you do it?

Gas stations all over  already offer a discount for cash users in an effort to avoid the charges to process a credit card transaction.  I know I don’t take advantage of that…mainly because I NEVER have cash!

Recently, in a settlement between Visa & Mastercard Vs. Merchants, Merchants were granted permission, which they never had, to ADD a surcharge for credit card users OR offer a discount to those who use cash.  Is this a fair deal?  Now, merchants don’t WANT to put this charge on their customers, it’s a tactic to get the credit card companies to lower the “swipe fee” they charge them to accept credit cards from us

I’m not too sure what is fair here, but will this move bring cash transactions back?  What about checks?  They act as cash maybe we will see a comeback of checkbooks, sadly I don'y think that many people still know how to write a check.

What do you think?  If this goes through, will you change back to cash?  I really don’t know what I would do!  It’s so much easier to grab a card and go than it is to grab a card, hit an ATM or bank THEN go!

But, between ATM fees, checking account fees and now credit card fees from merchants who knows what the most efficient way is anymore.

What do you think?