Credit Card Charges Slashed And EU Moves Christmas To June 2008

“CREDIT CARD CHARGES SLASHED,” says the Mail’s front page.

But the story is not about the cost of credit cards to users who fail to pay their balance in full. You need to read on to discover that the reduced costs are on for shops who accept payment by credit and debit cards.

Shops pay some of their revenues to the credit card companies for processing the transactions. To cover the cost, shops put their prices up.

And the headline making “SLASHED” costs might not come into force. The EU ruling relates to card authorisation charges “imposed on customers travelling to other EU member states”. The likes of Mastercard have been given six months to comply.

Says Brussels Competition Commissioner Neelie Koes, it’s “an early Christmas present to consumers”

British consumers should reap the benefits sometime in June, when they buy their groceries in Spain…

Hurrah!

Picture: Gawd Beless The EU - Poldraw

Anorak

Posted: 20th, December 2007 | In: Money, Tabloids Comment | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink