With credit card reform, cash will be king

According to The Wall Street Journal, new laws regulating credit cards could soon change the way that America buys everything from clothes to groceries. In the process, it could also show customers the actual cost of the little plastic cards in their wallets.

Among other things, the new credit law currently being proposed in the Senate could introduce transparency into the world of credit cards. For example, most customers aren't aware that in return for the convenience of being allowed to take credit, stores generally give credit companies between 1.5 and 2 percent of the gross proceeds of their credit sales. By comparison, debit card sales cost the stores approximately one percent.