From: Chris Blunt 
Newsgroups: uk.finance
Subject: Re: IKEA to start charging 70p per transaction for using M/card / VISA credit card
Date: Sat, 18 Sep 2004 11:10:13 +0800

On Fri, 17 Sep 2004 14:30:09 +0100, Mike Mitchell
 wrote:

>On Thu, 16 Sep 2004 13:28:42 +0100, John Laird
> wrote:
>
>>On Thu, 16 Sep 2004 11:12:14 +0100, usenet-uf@malloc.co.uk (Steve Firth)
>>wrote:
>>
>>>Mike Mitchell  wrote:
>>>
>>>> On Wed, 15 Sep 2004 14:42:33 +0100, usenet-uf@malloc.co.uk (Steve
>>>> Firth) wrote:
>>>>
>>>> >What is so difficult about using a debit card compared to
>>>> >a credit card?
>>>> 
>>>> Er, money in one's account?
>>>
>>>Ah right, part of the debt society. Say no more.
>>
>>Banks don't exactly make it cost-effective to leave sums of money in the
>>backing accounts for debit cards large enough to cover the purchases that
>>many people may normally use credit cards for.  I *never* borrow on credit,
>>but keeping a "float" of a grand or so in my current account would just be
>>stupid.  If they offered a daily sweeping facility from savings to current
>>accounts to cover purchases that day, I would be more on your side.
>>
>>[Mind you, I had to wait a while in the newsagents at my local station the
>>other day, to buy a paper for 50p, because some student-type in front was
>>insistent on using a debit card to pay his £1.49 bill.  One freaking pound
>>and forty-nine pence...]
>
>John, you sound like the kind of person who shares my view of the
>world. Steve and others seem keen to get us to stick large amounts of
>cash in an account or in our wallets just so that we can buy stuff
>when a credit card that one pays off each month is a far easier way of
>buying goods. I pay for low-value items using cash, and anything else
>with a building society cheque or a credit card.

The question that you have so far failed to answer is who do you think
should be paying for those few weeks of free credit that you get when
paying with  a credit card? Whichever way you look at it there is a
cost associated with that, and someone has to pay for it. You clearly
don't think you should pay, so why should do you think someone else
should pay for you to get the benefit of free credit?

I think this whole issue gets distorted by the way the credit card
companies make charge to the retailers. Perhaps it should be done on a
more realistic basis so that its clearer what's going on. They should
reduce the commission payable by the retailer to the same level as
that charged for debit cards and the like, and then the customer
should be charged interest from the day he made his purchase.

Chris