In a move not entirely surprising, USA Technologies, a major player in the vending machine industry, has informed their customers that they will no longer accept MasterCard debit cards as a payment form. Earlier this year, USA Technologies had announced that they would continue to accept Visa debit cards, but made no mention of MasterCard debit.
“The elimination of MasterCard debit acceptance is a loud message from the vending community that MasterCard’s approximately 250 percent increase in debit card processing fees for a typical $1.50 vend purchase is not acceptable.
Thus, from November 4th until now, one assumes that USA Technologies and MasterCard have not been able to reach an accommodation on the rate structure. In this fight, issuers and their consumers can get caught in the middle and especially when it comes to debit cards which can be used like a credit card for signature debit purchases. This confusion at the point of payment may be a risk USA Technologies is willing to take, but it does put universal acceptance on the line, and that may have some unintended consequences as well.
