Mastercard (NYSE:MA) is refuting claims made in a Wall Street Journal that the Purchase-based company is planning to raise the fees charged to merchants when their customers use credit cards for payments.
“Unfortunately, the story is wrong,” said the company in a statement posted to its website. “The reporting relies upon a report produced by an advisory firm advocating for legislation currently under consideration in Congress.”
Mastercard stated it was not raising interchange rates in the U.S. this fall, as reported by the Journal, adding that it “has no plans to do so.” The company also said it had no plans to raise U.S. network fees required for the processing of Mastercard transactions later this year.
“The Authorization Optimizer service is the only Mastercard fee noted in the study cited by the Journal,” the company said. “It is not related to interchange. This service is designed to reduce the likelihood that subscription and recurring payments will be declined, with any related fees being de minimis in scope.”
The Journal also reported that Mastercard”™s chief rival Visa was planning to raise fees in the spring, which the company immediately denied.
