Marketers may be able to cut some card fees with a little work and lot of persistence

摘要

The higher fuel prices go, the more consumers pay by plastic, and the greater the dollars banks and credit card issuers reap in fees. They thank you for your contribution. Visa reported first quarter net income of just $314 million, a 28% increase over last year, after settling litigation with American Express. Smaller MasterCard doubled its earnings to $446.9 million, outshining its bigger rival, thanks to a boost in overseas sales. In fact, banks and credit card firms now make more from fuel sales than marketers, says the National Assn. of Convenience Stores. Card fees paid by marketers surged $1 billion last year, to $7.6 billion.