Earlier this year a number of Canadians received up an upgrade to their credit cards without application, understandably they were somewhat perplexed as to why. They were issued the new Visa Infinite cards and a number of people were not happy with the thought of having to change their pre-authorized bill payments as their new card would have a new number associated with it.

Visa Canada’s spokesperson Tania Freedman, said that “card issuers are more than happy to help cardholders move over any pre-authorized debits”. What had many customers perplexed was why they had been upgraded to gain more credit card benefits without having to pay any additional fees? This was soon answered by businesses who had accepted the upgrade and found that they were subsidizing the cost of the new card through higher percentage fees being paid to the bank.

The president of MasterCard Canada Kevin Stanton said that “the CFIB and RCC have deliberately confused and combined references to merchant fees with fees that consumers may pay as part of their credit card agreements”. A number of businesses have started protest campaigns as they fear increases in fee charges can “be sustained without sneaking into the pricing system” expressed Catherine Swift, the president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.