[chiefalchemist]

Re: Cost of fraud.

Agreed. It still amazes me how prevalent credit card fraud is. Certainly that's preventable - if they want it to be. The problem is, the banks don't bear that cost, the consumer does. Even if the bank factors the loss into the cost of doing business, that still gets passed on to the consumer.

[300bps]

Consumers are limited by law to a $50 loss for credit card fraud and every bank I know waives even that.

It is merchants (stores, internet sites) that bear the cost of fraud.

[chiefalchemist]

But what of the time, stress, etc.?

Merchants don't bear the cost, the consumer does. The merchant might not hand me a bill but that cost is embedded somewhere in the price.

The bottomline is the consumer pays. No matter how you cut it, the consumer always pays.