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From the magazine SZW-RSDA 3/2016 | S. 302-316 The following page is 302

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Eine zivilrechtliche Einordnung der Interchange Fee bei Kreditkartenzahlungen

Where payments are made via credit card, retailers are charged with a merchant fee. This fee covers, among others, the interchange fee that the acquirer has to pay to the issuer of the credit card each time the card is used. The following article deals with legal questions that arise relating to interchange fees. In particular, it analyzes the contractual framework between issuer, acquirer, credit card organization, retailer and customer. Based on a qualification of the contractual relations between the different parties, the author argues that issuers are required to inform their customers how their card payments are financed. In addition, if the fee exceeds a certain threshold, issuers are allowed to keep the surplus only with their customers’ consent.

The article further considers whether retailers or customers have adequate measures to prevent excessively high interchange fees. Taking into account the significance of credit cards in every-day-life and the discretion with which…

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