Debit Card Limits

[Morrigoon]

Wherein the government once again encourages people to get into debt.

[Kevy Baby]

Originally Posted by Alex

I do want to be clear, I'm not saying congress was wrong to make these changes.

And in case it wasn't obvious, MY post was sarcastic. I have no problem with companies making money, as long as it is not illegal, unethical, etc. Which is a whole other argument

Originally Posted by Chernabog

How much does it actually cost for a transaction? A penny or less?

Originally Posted by Alex

Probably less, in terms of the infrastructure. Probably more due to fraud losses and other secondary concerns. If you're capped at $0.12 per swipe, $0.11 of which is profit you have to have 909 fraud free swipes to counteract one dillweed who steals his ex-girlfriends debit card and buys $100 of booze.

I have always been curious though: you frequently hear of the transactional charges the banks, VISA, Mastercharge, et. al. charge the merchants, but isn't there an advantage to the merchant of getting the money into his account sooner, with FAR less handling, and with lower risk? If a merchant is (for example) on an all credit/debit card basis (no cash or checks), he does not have to worry about taking cash and checks to the bank (time cost of delivery cash/checks to the bank, security risk of having cash on site, paperwork and additional handling involved with depositing checks, etc.) and does not have to worry about the risk of a bad check (I have virtually nil experience in retail, but I believe that the merchant is fully at risk for a bogus check - please correct me if I am wrong). While he does have to pay fees for the transaction, it is not as if the merchant is getting nothing in return for those fees: there are hard and soft-cost savings and advantages to the merchant for accepting plastic.

(BTW: I know that in reality a brick and mortar merchant cannot be all plastic.)

Originally Posted by Morrigoon

Wherein the government once again encourages people to get into debt.

Is the government responsible for protecting people from their own stupidity?