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Annoyed you have to pay to use your credit card?

Fuad Suleymanov

City University of Seattle

English Composition 102

Dr. Rami Mustafa

12/08/2022
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Annoyed you have to pay to use your credit card? You should be

In the article "Annoyed you have to pay to use your credit card? It would help if you

were," Katie Verigin, who has studied the politics of consumer debt. Verigin argues that

amendments in credit card fees have enabled companies to force Canadians to pay higher

interchange fees globally (2022). She claims that the people have built a structure where credit

has become a need instead of a luxury. The new rules in Canada about interchange fees have

reduced affordability and increased the cost of living. Verigin proposes that the administration

should protect consumers from higher interchange fees.

Summary

Business entities took the cost of using credit cards to diversify payment methods.

Businesses pay an interchange fee for every transaction paid using a credit card. Following the

recent new rules in Canada, retailers have been given the power to pass these interchange fees to

consumers; hence, the Canadian government has neglected consumer protection. According to

Verigin, many Canadians are struggling with a high cost of living; hence implementing new

policies should be done in the public's best interests (2022). The change in credit card fees

enables companies to continue forcing people to pay the highest interchange fees instead of

increasing business margins or reducing consumer costs. Businesses have been forced to

negotiate their rates with payment companies independently, which means that institutions with

resources lower their rates after a successful negotiation while small businesses experience

squeezed profit margins. Many Canadians live paycheque to paycheque; hence the idea that they

can easily switch to cash or debit payment methods ignores the reality that many Canadians are

struggling to meet their basic needs. Credit cards allow consumers to build their credit scores to
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be eligible to access loans, buy homes and even rent apartments, making it a necessity in the

lives of many Canadians.

Analysis

The author of this article has studied the politics of consumer debt, which means she is

well-informed about credit card payment methods. She uses logos and ethos to persuade the

government to implement new policies that protect consumers by making the payment method

affordable and reducing the cost of living. The author uses facts to demonstrate that Canadians

pay the highest interchange fees globally, hence the need to change the policies that give retailers

the power to pass the interchange fees to consumers. According to Verigin, Canadians pay

approximately 1.78% interchange fees globally, which is higher than that of the United States,

which is 1.73% and six times higher than European countries, which pay 0.3% (2022). This

article's strengths are that it understands the topic of discussion and the language to use and

avoids bias by supporting arguments with numerical figures.

Response

After analyzing the article, the author has sufficient knowledge about the politics of credit

card payments and uses language that the audience can understand easily. The author uses facts

such as numerical figures as evidence to convince the reader about the credibility of the

information and support her argument against the new policies introduced by the Canadian

government. The author believes introducing new interchange fees without neglecting consumer

policies would prevent the exploitation of consumers by well-established business organizations.

Conclusion

The Canadian government needs to solve the issue of high interchange fees,

making credit cards necessary. Considering the high living standards, increasing an extra amount
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in the interchange fees is unreasonable. The increase in interchange fees demonstrates massive

negligence of consumer protection by the Canadian government.

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References

Kearns, J., & Manners, P. (2018). The impact of monetary policy on the exchange rate: A study

using intraday data. Seventh issue (December 2006) of the International Journal of

Central Banking.

Mussa, M. (2019). The exchange rate, the balance of payments, and monetary and fiscal policy

under a regime of controlled floating. In Flexible Exchange Rates and Stabilization

Policy (pp. 97-116). Routledge.

Verigin, K. (2022). Annoyed you have to pay to use your credit card? You should be. CBC

Opinion.