Even $50 or $100 won't get you very far at Costco, or any other grocery store.
"Especially when you come to Costco, it's about a $300 at least," said Raven Morgan, who regularly uses her debit card there.
But that may change if a proposal by big banks becomes reality. They want to cap debit transactions to $50 or $100.
"I don't even know what you can buy anymore for $50 to 100, that's like five items from Costco," said Morgan.
It could send consumers straight back to checking, and remember banks are making free checking a lot more difficult.
"Do the banks really want to go back to paper checks?" said Jan Gee, who represents grocery stores in our state. She's not happy by the debit card limit idea or a possible fee tacked on to users accounts. She thinks it's a bluff.
"If your bank tries to pull that on you, pack that money up and go find another bank," she said.
So why are banks getting funky with the finance format? Here's the deal: banks charge merchants an average of 44 cents every time you swipe your debit card.
Banks make more than $20 billion annually from those fees, but the feds are taking a swipe of their own at the banks, cutting those fees to 12 cents for the major banks this summer. Now the big boys want to make that money back.
"It is a good thing for the consumers and it's a good thing for us. The banks don't like it and they're screaming," Gee said.
So what do the banks have to say about this? Some of them say the money they receive every time you swipe helps pay for processing, fraud investigation and security. If they charge merchants less, banks say they have to charge you more.
"Yes they're trying to be creative in how they boost their profits, but it's ridiculous," said one shopper who wasn't happy.
Banks are fighting this pretty hard. They're urging the fed to put the brakes on any changes to figure out the total impact.
We'll keep an eye on this and let you know how this turns out, and how it'll affect you.
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