it's not the people carrying a balance that pay for that - it's the merchants. it's an extra fee added on to the credit card fee that a merchant can't predict nor can they avoid.
As a merchant, I charged people, say... $10 for something. The fee might be 2.9%, but if it was 'rewards card' (which I can't tell ahead of time) the charge would show up as 4%.
The cost is passed on to every in the form of higher prices. The people carrying a balance have nothing to do with this. That would simply eat in to the banks' profits. Why would they just randomly give people x% of the profits from balance-accrued interest?
As a merchant, I charged people, say... $10 for something. The fee might be 2.9%, but if it was 'rewards card' (which I can't tell ahead of time) the charge would show up as 4%.
The cost is passed on to every in the form of higher prices. The people carrying a balance have nothing to do with this. That would simply eat in to the banks' profits. Why would they just randomly give people x% of the profits from balance-accrued interest?