By Ellen Roseman

Recently, I went for dinner at a Chinese restaurant. The owner refused to accept my credit card, even though he'd taken credit cards in the past.
 
Merchants pay hefty surcharges when they accept credit cards for payment. As consumers, we don't know about these surcharges because they're buried in the prices we pay, whether we use credit cards or not.
 
Enter the federal competition bureau, which is seeking a prohibition order against two worldwide credit card issuers, Visa and MasterCard. It estimates that hidden fees cost retailers and consumers $5 billion a year.
 
Canada has among the highest credit card fees in the world. Merchants pay 1.5 to 3 per cent of each purchase. A $400 set of snow tires, for example, can cost them up to $12 in credit card fees.

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