Canada’s Competition Tribunal will announce Tuesday morning whether retailers will continue to be bound by the “all-or-nothing” rule dictated by credit card companies. The rule requires any business applying to use Visa or MasterCard to accept all of the cards that are issued, even the ones charging higher fees. Furthermore, retailers are forbidden by the terms of the agreement to charge card-holders more if they use one of the high-tariff cards. Retailers resent the profusion of expensive credit cars in recent years and the attempt by card companies to encourage the use to cards for small purchases. The so-called smallenfreuden campaign has tended to drive up costs even more as consumers use credit cards for purchases of two or three dollars. Despite the rigid terms of the Visa and MasterCard agreements, many retailers refuse to take a card for a purchase under $10 or $20.
