While you may not know it, every time you use your credit card to make a purchase, Visa and Mastercard charge the retailer a “swipe fee” of up to 4 percent. While this hidden charge won’t show up on your receipt, retailers across the U.S. shell out over $100 billion in credit card swipe fees every year — a figure that has surged over 50 percent in the past four years as Visa and Mastercard continue to jack up their rates. But retailers don’t bear this burden alone, as they are often forced to pass these additional fees on to customers in the form of higher prices. In fact, estimates show that swipe fees cost the average American household at least $1,100 every year.
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