Comment by guywithahat
4 hours ago
It's not a government problem, it's a competition problem. Fundamentally 1-3% is actually a very competitive rate for organizing the easy transfer of money and handling fraud. Merchants would rather the cost be free, and banks may want a larger slice of the pie, but until someone comes up with a better way of paying money for both sides this is the best we have. If government got involved all that could happen is fees would increase and then we'd miss out on future efficiency improvements and savings.
> Fundamentally 1-3% is actually a very competitive rate for organizing the easy transfer of money and handling fraud
This is a very US-centric take. In the UK, EU and Australia, interchange rates are capped at more like 0.2/0.3%.
That actually proves the point, because a market left to itself arrives at 2-3%, and it only goes lower if the government is dictating a rate.
What you are missing is that a market left to itself is not necessarily competitive when monopolies/duopolies form.
Proves what point? GP was saying the government would only increase fees.
0% because it’s a service that’s so obviously should be provided by the government is better.
Having been a customer of a government run postal bank, I'm going to hard disagree.