Mastercard and Visa not planning to increase card fees

Mastercard and Visa, the US-based financial services companies, have announced that reports that they plan to increase credit card fees in the US are not true. Mastercard said in a statement that the news about credit card fees in The Wall Street Journal last week was "incorrect." The statement said, "Mastercard is not increasing interchange fees in the US this fall and does not plan to do so." The company also stated that the network fees required to process Mastercard transactions in the US will not be increased. On the other hand, Visa said in a statement that the news in the press on the subject were "misleading." The statement emphasized that despite the strong increase in the use of Visa cards, overall interchange fees for Visa transactions have remained flat over the last decade, and it was also stated that the company has initiated programs to reduce interchange fees for the vast majority of small businesses in the US in the last 3 years. The Wall Street Journal reported on August 30, based on documents seen by the newspaper and unnamed sources with knowledge of the matter, that Visa and Mastercard were preparing to increase credit card fees.