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Comment by worstestes | Hacker News Reader

"Costco's credit card policy is all about saving money. It negotiates a partnership agreement with a single payment network in exchange for much lower processing fees. As part of its current deal with Visa, it pays transaction fees of only 0.4%. By saving on fees, Costco is able to keep prices low."

https://www.fool.com/the-ascent/credit-cards/articles/why-do...

They actually secure a very nice low rate via their credit card policy

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By not demanding better legislation, you're still being ripped off. What you describe as a "very nice low rate" is higher than the legislated EU wide limit.

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/EN/legal-content/summary/fees-for-...

But I get minimum 2% cash back when I use my card. Prices are 0.4% higher because of the fee, but I still come out way ahead. You can easily get 5% back on gas, groceries, Amazon purchases, etc. American credit cards are awesome if you know how to use them.

> I get minimum 2% cash back when I use my card. Prices are 0.4% higher because of the fee, but I still come out way ahead.

You, and people who use such cards, do. But everyone else is having to pay for your cash back.

Funny thing is I'm still getting between 3% and 5% cashback on my US cards that I use in the EU. Those interchange fee limits are probably EU issued cards only.

That is probably your card issuer loosing money because US cards used in Europe is a small enough segment to not demand any policy changes.

In particular the articles talks about exemptions:

> provides for a limited number of exemptions, such as business cards used only for business expenses being charged directly to the account of the company;

In EU, credit card processing is way more than 0.3%.

Fascinating. Visa-subsidized gold I guess.

Don't worry, Visa isn't subsidizing anything. At 0.4% they're most likely still making money, at a low margin, but still taking home a profit.

Credit card transaction fees in Europe are capped at 0.30%[1] and visa operates here.

[1] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/EN/legal-content/summary/fees-for-...

Visa never takes on any risk, the card issuing bank would be subsidizing, if that.

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