[originaltext] Credit cards are big business. Americans spend $16 billion a

Credit cards are big business. Americans spend $16 billion a year on cards and there are already 590 millions of them in circulation. Many banks sponsor their own credit card companies and issue cards free to their customers. Other credit card companies charge their members annual dues. The stores that accept credit cards must pay a small fee to the credit card company—a percentage of the purchase price of the merchandise or service. Credit card companies make a profit from the fees they charge the store and also from the fees collected from customers who pay for their charges in monthly installments. However, credit card companies sometimes have problems collecting overdue payments from unreliable customers. Also, the use of stolen, lost or counterfeit credit cards by criminals has become a big headache for the credit card company that is responsible for the goods and services illegally charged to its customer’s account.
    Yet, in many ways, the big loser in the credit card system is not the credit card company, the store, or the card user, but rather the general customer. The store makes up for the fees it pays to the credit card company by increasing prices for goods and services. Stores may have more sales if they accept cards, but the added cost to the store when credit cards are accepted instead of cash is actually passed on to all customers in higher prices. In this way the cash customer suffers for the convenience the credit card customer enjoys.