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by dangrossman 4605 days ago
The interchange rate charged by the card network (Visa, MasterCard, etc) is determined by the type of card presented. Rewards cards are charged a higher fee because they're reward cards (the rate is literally called "CPS Rewards"), and that extra money ends up back with the card-issuing bank who's paying the rewards. If you head into your local convenience store and pay with a cash-back card, that store will lose a larger percentage of your transaction than if you had handed the very same cashier a basic non-rewards card.

http://usa.visa.com/download/merchants/visa-usa-interchange-...