Why are President Obama and Finance Minister Jim Flaherty suddenly talking about regulating the credit card industry? Simply put, we are all getting taken advantage of – retailers and consumers alike. The bank interest rates keep going down and the credit card interest rates keep going up. There is no regulation and the credit card companies are free to do what ever they want to. It’s about time someone did something about it.

According to Stop Sticking It To Us, a group of Canadian associations led by Retail Council of Canada and backed by over 200,000 businesses from coast-to-coast, Canadian consumers paid over $4.5 billion in hidden credit card fees last year. What can you do about it? Contact your Member of Parliament and sign the Stop Sticking It To Us petition.

We may very well see higher debit card changes very soon. Interac is talking with the Competition Bureau of Canada about changing from a not-for-profit to a for-profit company and both Visa and MasterCard are planning to enter the Canadian debit card market soon. This will cost both consumers and merchants dearly. A Bank of Canada survey reported on the current cost of processing a transaction. On a $36.50 transaction the costs are:
•    Debit card - 19 cents.
•    Cash - 25 cents.
•    Credit card - 82 cents.

It’s no wonder that a Bank of Canada study from August 2008 found that 53% of merchants preferred debit cards, 30% preferred cash, and only 5% preferred credit cards.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty isn’t saying much about what we can expect in the form of regulations for the credit card industry. In all likelihood Canada will wait and see what the Americans are doing and then follow suit.