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Are Credit-Card Fees Fair, to Whom, and How Best to Set Them?

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Several letters to the editors were posted today in the WSJ in response the article Credit Card Wars. Those writing in are sharing that the interchange fee charged by credit card companies to businesses that accept credit cards is truly against the free market system and are in fact hurting both consumers and small businesses at the same time.

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{"commentId":1653438,"authorDomain":"aljacobs2"}
Al Jacobs-247257Deleted
{"commentId":1653517,"authorDomain":"redsoxbd"}

While I agree with you that the amount of credit card debt Americans are amassing is a serious problem, I think the practices of the credit card industry are also seriously flawed. Their fee system lacks the necessary transparency to make it fair and the way that they use variable rates and hidden fees such as interchange to make billions a year is not even in line with the principles of free markets. If you can honestly say that you have read through all the fine print regarding your credit card and actually understand then I tip my hat to you, but I have trouble believing that even the people who work in the credit card industry can do that. Its a broken system that is in desperate need of accountability pure and simple.

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    Reply#2 - Thu Apr 3, 2008 9:45 PM EDT
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