By now you have heard about the new rules allowing merchants to slap a 4 percent surcharge onto purchases you make using Visa or Mastercard.
Well, forget about it.
It is true that starting Sunday, retailers who accept the two most ubiquitous cards now are allowed to add a surcharge to cover fees they pay to those card companies.
This is one element of a $7.2 billion antitrust settlement involving Visa, Mastercard and several large banks over price-fixing allegations. In addition to a $6 billion cash payment and $1.2 billion in fee relief, the deal also allows merchants to add an extra charge to cover the transaction cost.
But don’t expect any nonsuicidal retailer actually to try it.