"Swipe fees" may swipe more from your wallet

xJason.Rogersx on flickr.com

A deal that's sweet for retailers may sour you if you're in the habit of ringing up your credit card. Credit card companies and sellers have been duking it out over fees card companies charge retailers. Now in a proposed settlement, the losers of the fight could be card users.

The issue revolves around what's called an interchange fee. Typically card companies charge retailers an average of two-percent per transaction. Grab a quick meal at Denny's for $20? Charge it on your credit card, and the restaurant pays the card processor 40 cents. Multiply this by the millions of transactions that consumers run on credit cards and you'll see somebody's making big money.

The retailers filed a suit against the card processing companies, charging that the card processors were artificially inflating the interchange fee. When the dust settled, the banks agreed to pay back $6 billion, temporarily reduce the interchange fee, and allow retailers to "stick" the consumer with the fee. Previously, two of the giants, VISA and Mastercard, would not allow merchants to 'pass along' those fees.

If the settlement is approved this doesn't automatically assure that you'll be seeing the fee added to your purchase price. Ten states (California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Oklahoma, and Texas) prohibit the passing along of so-called "swipe fees" to consumers. Some retailers fear the negative feedback from consumers and will simply "pass" on passing on the fees. Others may offer cash discounts, rather than infuriating credit card customers. And if you run your purchases on your debit card, the issue is moot--swipe fees won't apply to these purchases as far as the consumer sees them.

If some merchants decide to do the big pass-along, things could look a bit different. For RVers who are accustomed to pumping 100 gallons of fuel into their motorhome, and additional $8.00 on top of the fuel price could be a bit of a sting. It could be a while before we know the extent of damages. The matter may not clear the court system until the end of 2012.

Camping at the county fair (grounds)

Free camping at an Idaho fairground.  R&T DeMaris photo

Looking for an off-the-beaten path place to spend the night without spending a fortune? Think cotton candy and snow cones. OK, maybe you won't find these sweet-tooth pleasers when you camp, but many county fairgrounds have RV facilities available year-around at low cost. We've found a quiet place to "dry camp," at no charge; other fairgrounds offer full hookups and the clean, fresh smell of--cut grass--for twenty-something a night.

If working fairgrounds camping into your trip, it's best to do a little checking in advance. Unless there's an active event at the grounds (at which time you might not find space available) the office probably won't be keeping "RV park hours." A phone call to the fairgrounds is in order, but how do you know where to look?

A quick Internet search of "X counties" where "X" is the name of the state will often pop back an alphabetical list of counties, and sometimes even a state outline map. Pick your desired county, then search for "X county fairgrounds" and you'll quickly find the information you'll need. Some fairgrounds have their own websites with camping information right on hand; others will need a phone call to check it out.

We've found the friendliness of county fair folks to be warming. Once, when traveling through Oklahoma, we called out in advance to find out about camp site availability. The folks at the other end of the line told us their facility was small, but on hearing when we'd be arriving, send someone out to unlock the gate, show us where to stay on, and even sent the police to cruise through our area just to ensure we were "getting along all right." All that, and no charge, M'am!