this post was submitted on 15 Mar 2025
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Visa and Mastercard are American companies, and they essentially tax everybody by taking a percentage of purchase prices for themselves. Not exactly a small percentage either, 1.2% to 2.65%. Ever wonder why so many merchants say they don't accept American Express? That's because they charge quite a bit more to merchantes, 50% more than Visa or Mastercard. Anyway, we're letting American companies tax us and we love them because we get rewards when we use cards. But it's just a shell game because we pay more up front because businesses need to charge more to make up for payment processing charges. They get to sit in the middle and rake in the money.

Now the alternative in Canada is Interac. Interac charges a set amount per transcation. How much? 2 to 5.5 cents. Unless you're going through Apple or Google Pay, and then it's a percentage again.

Interac is also Canadian.

Want to stick it to Trump? Stop using credit cards (and Google Pay or Apple Pay) and switch to Interac. Want to make Canada better? Stop using credit cards and switch to Interac. Is it going to be inconvenient? Yes. Online shopping will be much harder but I have seen online Interac payments before and we can ask our favourite Canadian merchants to accept Interac online.

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[–] scott_anon_21@lemmy.ca 15 points 3 days ago (3 children)

I have never yet had a problem challenging and reversing a charge made to my credit card. Their fraud detection also seems to be superior. On the other hand, members of my family have had to jump through hoops when challenging fraudulent Interac transactions. They have felt like they are being seen as the more likely perpetrator, and meanwhile the money is no longer in their account while the process drags out. Very stressful.

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[–] IslandLife@lemmy.ca 15 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I have a cash back VISA card. The week after Jan 20, I pulled my card info off every online service I use, stopped using the card entirely, and a few days ago canceled it completely. It was a tough choice. I generally earned about $600 a year cash back, but it's time to free ourselves of America and forge our own path. I don't really see the Can/American relationship ever being repaired at this point. Time to move on.

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[–] nkat2112@sh.itjust.works 16 points 3 days ago

This is a brilliant strategy. Thank you for sharing that.

[–] Randelung@lemmy.world 10 points 2 days ago (2 children)

See, not using Google Pay is something even I, a non-Canadian, European person can do. doingmypart.jpg!

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[–] daddy32@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

Same with mastercard.

[–] Pronell@lemmy.world 9 points 3 days ago (3 children)

Nationalize them! Bring this back under societal control and eliminate that tax.

Then SpaceX, Twitter, and Amazon.

Of course this assumes we defeat the fascists and fix the Supreme Court first.

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[–] sloppychops@lemmy.ca 10 points 3 days ago (4 children)

What happens if your card is Interac and Visa debit?

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[–] SpikesOtherDog@ani.social 9 points 3 days ago

Please understand that there are also many third party card processors. That is the company that takes the transaction from the merchant to the payment system. The payment system then takes the transaction to the bank.

Don't be discouraged, but someone may need to become card processors to vendors.

Pressure on Visa and MasterCard may work, but the boycott will need to overcome license fees.

[–] arankays@lemmy.ca 4 points 2 days ago (4 children)

is this the same interac corporation that won't do anything about their god awful etransfer system? no app like venmo or cashapp? how many years did it take them to implement autodeposit? why do etransfers sometimes take 1 hour?

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[–] SaltSong@startrek.website 7 points 3 days ago (2 children)

It's not in any way a tax. It's a fee you pay for a service you wish to use. It's as much a tax as the money spent on a doughnut is a tax.

The rest of your idea is great. Wish I had access to something like that.

[–] ryedaft@sh.itjust.works 8 points 3 days ago

At least you can see a tax on your receipt. Visa, MasterCard and so on all have in their contracts with businesses that you can't tell the customers how much it costs.

[–] Albbi@lemmy.ca 6 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I call it a tax because the charge is a percentage of the transaction instead of a flat fee. The fact that Interac can charge a flat fee shows that it is possible.

The "tax" is only accepted because consumers can't see it, and then we're offered rewards like the percent cash back. That's our own damn money they're rewarding us with!

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[–] Rentlar@lemmy.ca 7 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

I have the same question as sloppychops. If my interac debit card is also Visa, how would I know whether the payment terminal is routing through Visa or Interac?

I am one who offers to pay in cash sometimes to small businesses, treating it like an additional tip. But more and more businesses in the Vancouver area use Clover (A Canadian subsidiary owned by Wells Fargo) and Square (American fintech), and either take card only (which they get their cut with Interac debit too), or the staff get a little impatient when I rummage around for cash in my wallet.

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[–] melsaskca@lemmy.ca 4 points 2 days ago

3 times in my life I took out a consolidation loan to corral all those costs and pay them off. Credit cards are both a blessing and a curse. Gov't should provide credit services at a reasonable, non-compounding, interest rate.

Between credit card companies, finance companies and the banks, the interest they extract yearly would put all the space billionaires to shame.

[–] allo@sh.itjust.works -4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 19 hours ago) (6 children)

For anyone curious like I was, Dicking Around is not what i thought. Looked it up and...

"the phrase "dick around" is actually from "dicker around" which is a 19th c. term. "Dicker" is to "Engage in petty argument or bargaining" and "Treat something casually or irresponsibly; toy with something". So when someone is "dick[er]ing around" they are treating serious matters lightly or doing things in an unnecessarily protracted way; which is precisely how we use it.

The word "dick" however, which I would gather, people would envision it meaning "penis" here, simply doesn't work. We don't use "dick" as a verb, yet alone a progressive verb. "To dick" or "to be dicking" a person, although fairly clear in its sexual connotation, is certainly not in use, "dicking (with) a person" however, makes perfect sense, because it's from that ye olden term "dicker" again.

So "dicking around" has nothing to do with the slang term for penis or the disused colloquial meaning of a rookie detective, or it being an everyman"

,

tho clearly OP didnt kno that and instead masculinizes his speech to be 'man talk' about and for Men.

edit: OP seems less evil than was implied.

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