Credit Card Company Lawsuits 'Stomping On The Little Guy,' Says Lawyer

Canadian credit card companies are "scaring customers to pay up" in an aggressive new tactic to collect outstanding debts from customers, says B.C. man Sukhpaul Badyal.

​The Burnaby electrician says his credit rating was destroyed when ATB Financial claimed he owed $6,900 on his Husky MasterCard, and took him to B.C. Supreme Court to collect.

Big retailers pull out of $7B credit card fee settlement

Some of the country's largest retailers, including Target Corp. and Macy's Inc., on Thursday filed a lawsuit against MasterCard and Visa, rejecting a settlement reached last year over alleged fee-fixing.

A larger group of 19 trade associations and retail companies originally filed suit against the card processing companies in 2005, claiming that they conspired to fix the fees they charge stores for handling payments made with credit cards.

Credit Card Fees Canada: Visa, MasterCard Ruling Could See New Charges For Consumers

Canadians could see new surcharges on their credit card purchases if a Competition Bureau tribunal decides to eliminate existing rules put in place by Visa and MasterCard, a consumers’ group is warning.

And if Australia’s experience with allowing credit card surcharges is anything to go by, Canadians could pay as much as 10 per cent more on some purchases, Bruce Cran of the Consumers’ Association of Canada told the Vancouver Sun.

Business association calls for new rules for credit, debit, mobile payments

TORONTO—The Canadian Federation of Independent Business is calling for a stronger code of conduct for the credit and debt card industry, including rules that give merchants more flexibility and includes provisions for new electronic forms of payment.

The association, which has more than 100,000 member businesses across Canada, says the current code gives merchants some power to deal with the card industry but argues the rules need changes to remain relevant.

Cash Dying As Credit Card Payments Predicted To Grow In Volume: Report

Louise Collis likes to ride her bike around the Clarendon Hills suburb of Chicago. What she doesn't like is change -- as in spare change jangling in her pocket -- and she prefers to use her credit card wherever she goes.

"I keep a credit card in my back pocket, and I don’t have to carry cash around," Collis, 44, said.

Collis is the face of an increasingly cashless society. Last year 27 percent of all point-of-sale purchases were made with cash and that number is expected to drop to 23 percent by 2017, according to a report published Wednesday by Javelin Strategy & Research, a market research firm.

Credit card fees are unfair, tribunal hears

The fees that Canadian merchants are charged to process credit card transactions are among the highest in the world, a federal Competition Bureau tribunal heard Tuesday.

Kent Thomson, the lead counsel for Canada's competition watchdog, told the tribunal in Ottawa on Tuesday that the system of fees charged when retailers allow consumers to pay with credit cards goes against competition rules and add up to $5 billion in fees for the credit card industry annually.

Thomson described Canada's credit card system as a "perverse" place where shoppers who pay with cash or debit subsidize purchases made with credit cards because merchants pay high fees for accepting credit cards and those costs are passed on to all consumers.

Thomson's arguments opened the case by bureau staff against Visa and MasterCard are engaging in anti-competitive behaviour.