eli5: How do companies such as VISA or MASTERCARD make money?

544 views

As title suggests, how do these companies make money? Thanks

In: Economics

4 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Credit card companies charge merchants a percentage of every transaction as a fee, usually something like 3%. So if a purchase with a credit card is $100, the merchant has to pay the credit card company $3. Merchants aren’t super happy about this, obviously, so they have to raise prices a bit to compensate for their losses, but the convenience is generally worth it, and you’re cutting yourself off from a lot of customers if you don’t accept credit cards.

Also, credit cards have insanely high interest rates, so if you don’t pay your credit card bill off every month, you’re going to instantly start accruing interest on your debt, and a lot of it. This earns them money too.

You are viewing 1 out of 4 answers, click here to view all answers.