The Card Game - How Visa, Using Fees Behind Its Debit Card, Dominates a Market

Visa and Mastercard compete in the debit card world by RAISING their fees. This is great for banks- they get more money per transaction, but it all gets passed along to the consumer in the end.

Personally, I stopped using my debit card a few years ago (except at CostCo). Everything goes on the credit card (e.g. bills, daycare, groceries) and is paid off every month. There’s much better liability protection on a credit card, lower fees for the merchants (as opposed to debit transactions), plus I get amazon giftcards every month or so.