Lower Fees on Debit Cards

Retailers have been eagerly awaiting a reduction in fees on debit card transactions as a result of the court settlement in April. In her article in the New York Times, Jennifer Bayot suggests that it may be a long wait. And, the fees may not be cut as much as they had hoped. The cuts will be selective. While some retailers will find debit-card fees cut by as much as 70 percent, other cuts will be less than 10 percent. Since merchants with sophisticated processing systems have already been favored with low fees, they will gain smaller reductions than others currently paying higher discounts.