Should I withdraw cash in the next few days? Cash is less and less popular with the French when it comes to paying for their purchases, neglected in favor of the bank card. The Covid-19 pandemic and the rise of contactless payment have relegated coins and banknotes to the bottom of the wallet. However, cash has several advantages that dematerialized means of payment do not have, one of them being that it is free.
You don’t realize it at checkout, but your choice to pay by credit card results in transaction fees for the merchant, who must pay an interchange fee to the credit card manager. For individuals, in Europe, this amount is capped at 0.2% for a debit card and 0.3% for a credit card, plus network fees. These can vary from one to ten between that of CB and the others. If the customer uses Visa or Mastercard in particular, then the bill is higher, with a commission of up to 1.80%!
Figures that increasingly worry some traders and even big French names, such as SNCF, System U, Auchan and Cdiscount. In a statement released by the newspaper Les Echos, the four major groups are concerned about the “hegemonic position” enjoyed by the two credit card networks mentioned above, namely Visa and Mastercard. They accuse them of “increasing their commissions” and even “of encouraging certain players to no longer use national networks”. According to the daily, the traditional CB network is losing ground each year to the American behemoths, as more and more online banks offer Visa or Mastercard. The BPCE group, which brings together the Banque Populaire and the Caisse d’Epargne, did the same.
These choices, which are not the responsibility of consumers, could have serious consequences for all French people… Regardless of their bank card. We explain to you.
On Twitter, the head of System U Dominique Schelcher regretted last week “a change that comes badly in a period of inflation”: “Quite discreetly, some banks no longer affix the CB logo on their bank cards. Result: the commission to pay by merchants on these cards is much higher,” he added on the social network.
A choice that directly concerns consumers since, according to the boss, “this will have an impact on prices”. More billed, merchants will have as a first instinct to pass on this increase to the prices charged in stores and it will therefore be up to you to pay the piper. So, should we stop paying by credit card now?
Asked by Franceinfo, the Banking Federation kicks in, explaining that it is not its responsibility. If traders are sounding the alarm, they have not yet announced a real price increase, in response to these fees. On your side, you can already check if the target “CB” is on your bank card. If this is not the case, your transactions are going through a foreign network, where the fees are surely higher. You can therefore limit your purchases by credit card, but nothing obliges you to do so for the moment. Cash being preferred for certain purchases, this may be an opportunity to go to the ATM.