From Cynthia Scott of OMC Financial Services:

Why use of plastic for purchases can now cost consumers more.

**A long standing lawsuit between retailers and credit card companies, including major banks, has just been settled for over $7 billion that will be paid to retailers.

**Under the settlement merchants can now pass on so called “checkout fees” to consumers who use credit cards; debit cards are exempt.

**A checkout fee, also known as a “swipe fee”, is the fee that the merchant has to pay companies such as Visa and MasterCard for processing the transaction.

**There will be a limit of between 1.5 to 3% that the merchant can pass along to the consumer

**This settlement underscores the difficulty retailers are having in this current economic environment.