The US have a monopoly on credit card payments with Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Diners Club, etc.

Even with online payment systems like PayPal, GPay, Apple Pay.

The only Canadian option that I know of is the new Shop Pay, which is owned by Shopify. (And we all know the founder CEO, Tobias Lutke is a far-right fascist traitor who loves the idea of being a 51st state.)

Right now Visa and Mastercard are controlling what stores can sell, and what services can be provided. Censoring online content, like asking Steam and Itch.io to remove certain games.

What are examples of alternatives in other countries? I know that Japan, for example, has their own independent ones, I think?

Do you think they might be refused by American companies in order to keep their monopoly?

I’d like to know what you think.

    • cyborganismOP
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      32 days ago

      That’s the thing. I don’t. I make a shit ton of extra cash with bonus points to a point where I can pay off a plane ticket when I go on vacation. That’s a pretty big incentive.

      • @[email protected]
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        12 days ago

        Westjet had a good system before with RBC and you would get flight cash, its be nerfed since they were bought though. And now the Dollars have become Points, which means they can play with point value to adjust pricing

    • enkers
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      32 days ago

      Not all CCs have annual fees. I’ve got one with no fees and I still get 1% back.

      • @[email protected]
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        22 days ago

        Yeah, it just sucks that we are all paying about an extra 3% more on everything we buy to cover the interchange fees charged on credit transactions, even if we pay cash. It’s built into all the pricing. Years back, there were places that would discount a price by 3% if you paid cash, but I haven’t seen that in years. Best we can do now is get a cash back card to recover some of the loss. The annual fee cards usually get you more back, so if you use a credit card for everything you can, you might be further ahead.

    • @[email protected]
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      12 days ago

      Mine has no fee and I pay it completely every month so no interest. It’s a good place to be. Just perks for purchasing.