16 Billion Dollars: What Banks Make From Debit Card Transaction Charges

Every time a debit card is used, the bank charges the retailer a small amount - 44 cents, to be precise. Now this adds up to, yes, 16 Billion Dollars a year.

Right now, every time you swipe your debit card your bank charges the retailer an average fee of 44 cents, which it shares with its partners. Those little fees, however, add up to about $16 billion per year, according to 2009 data from the Federal Reserve.

Thats an interesting statistic - and now of course, since the Fed is capping that fees, Banks are looking at capping the transaction amount, and/or charging a monthly fees for the facility. Debit Card payments could soon be a thing of the past.

Statistics Source: Yahoo Finance