Credit card regulations coming, Flaherty says
 

With economists worried about the threat of massive amounts of credit card defaults, the Canadian government announced they are looking into new regulations to protect consumers.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty made the announcement Wednesday but did not specify the exact regulations, such as interest rate limits, the government is considering.

"There are a number of issues we can address with respect to credit cards," Flaherty told reporters.

"We have regulatory power and we're working on certain regulations, which I'll be able to speak about publicly soon."

He did not answer questions on interest rate limits.

Visa and MasterCard make up 94 per cent of the credit card market in Canada. The heads of the Canadian branches of those companies appeared before the Senate banking committee on Wednesday to argue against regulation.

They pushed to enter the debit-card industry, which takes funds directly from a consumer's account -- a market that is dominated by Canada's charted banks.

The entry of the credit card giants into the debit market is being opposed by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business and the Retail Council of Canada as they fear merchants' fees will go up.

"This is of great concern and we don't want Visa and MasterCard to do to debit what they have done to credit," Diane Brisebois, president of the Retail Council of Canada, told CTV News.

Brisebois says that merchants are outraged with credit card companies, saying they've seen seven increases in fees over the last 18 months.

Brisebois said with debit cards in Canada there is a flat processing fee of eight cents per purchase.

Liberal senator Pierrette Ringuette noted that in North Carolina a typical $500 purchase equals a fee of $7.72 for Visa and $8.39 for MasterCard.

"Do you want to do the same thing in Canada?" she asked.

Visa president Tim Wilson said it was "dangerous" to make assumptions about what the company would do in the Canadian market.

Kevin Stanton, the president of MasterCard, said that the entry of the credit card companies into the market would mean better choices for consumers.

The pair also said Canadians could use debit cards worldwide with their companies, as well as online.
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNew...hub=TopStories

lol. 7.72 and 8.39 for a 500 purchase?? LOL
so what would amex charge them? cause i've been told by dozens of stores that they dont advertise their AMEX acceptance because of the fees.

$7.72 fee for a $500 purchase?? outrageous.

wow, it's only $0.10 right now in Canada

All instating credit card interest limits does is reward people who were careless with their credit cards.

I've never paid a penny of interest in all the years I've owned a credit card. Why? Because I don't buy shit if I don't have money in the bank to pay for it.

Exactly. Same thing I do. Use cc only for convenience then pay the bill via online banking when the bill comes, plus get points + rewards (extra warranty etc)

However, the credit card companies do need to be regulated further. 19.5% interest? High service fees etc.. not cool.

^ +1

Obama will be implimenting the same thing.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...042302268.html

It's human nature to be greedy, so blame God for high interest rates :D

All these retarded regulations and fees are stupid. Soon everyone's gonna be carrying a stash load of $20 bills in their pocket to buy things. Everyone's gonna think drug dealing since your carrying all that crap load of bills lol.

Yes, because using CREDIT is the SAME as using CASH. :rolleyes:

credit is a privilege , not a right !

+1
Same thing I do. I only buy what I need and most of what I buy goes on the card anyway since I'm going to pay it off. I might as well collect the points. Points = money.