Visa, MasterCard Risk ‘Mom and Pop’ Ire With Debit-Fee Increase
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Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc., the world’s biggest payments networks, may face a merchant backlash by raising debit-card swipe fees on the smallest purchases to the maximum allowed under U.S. caps that take effect next week.
MasterCard will impose the highest fees permitted on all debit transactions, including so-called small-ticket purchases, for cards issued by the biggest U.S. banks, said a person with direct knowledge of the matter. Visa will do the same, Thomas McCrohan, an analyst at Janney Montgomery Scott LLC, wrote in a Sept. 21 note, without saying how he got the information.