Contents

Introduction

“…Do not steal. Do not take advantage of one another…” Leviticus 19:11, 13

There’s a not so quiet kind of injustice happening in modern life—and folks it ain’t happenin’ in back alleys, but in the fine print of our utility bills, ATMs, and online payments. Companies call them—get a load of this—“convenience” fees. The Bible calls it something else: taking advantage of people because you can.

So what does it actually cost them sneaky fellers chargin’ us them “convenience” fees? Let’s check it out, but grab a chair and be seated first friend, because the findings will cause some serious dizziness.

Credit Card Payments

When you and I pay a bill with a credit card, the company pays a processing fee. That fee is usually like so:

1.5%–3.5% of the transaction, for most businesses, plus a small fixed fee of 5–30 cents per transaction. Yup, that’s it. So, for a $100 utility bill, the real cost is like $1.50–$3.50, sometimes a little less.

For example around here where we hang our hat, the City of So and So Utilities charges $2.50 or 3.5% (whichever is higher, now ain’t that just lovely?) just to pay by card. That means the fee isn’t covering cost —it’s generating revenue baby (them execs gotta’ keep that doggone salary on up there after all, now don’t they?)

Small vs. Medium vs. Large Businesses

The processing cost doesn’t change much with business size either no it don’t:

Small business: 2–3% typical
Medium business: 1.7–2.5%
Large enterprise: it like 1.3–2% because they negotiate lower rates

But the “convenience” fees they be chargin’ customers? Well well, hold on to yer hat folks, them thar’ fees are often flat fees that way exceed their actual cost (ha ha ha ha). Pretty slick, huh? Them ol’ boys know how to keep them goodies comin’ home and them happy happy times a rollin’, now don’t they? We call them sorts “slicksters” down roun’ here ya’ll, slick ol’ suckers. Hidin’ behind this and that, makin’ themselves look legit, like good ol’ fellers, yes sirree, the boys and the gals gettin’ in on the act here. Yup, accomplished slicksters (snuck a fancy word in on ya’ll—“accomplished”—pretty impressive, huh?).

ATMs (now it gettin’ downright ugly wugly)

Operating an ATM has real expenses—okay, we’ll give ’em that—maintenance, cash handling, telecom, and whatnot —but, and it’s a big ol’ but, the per-transaction cost is teensy tiny compared to the $3–$5 fees many machines charge (ha ha ha ha ha ha–needed a couple extra ha here). Check this out, but again, please remain seated, preferably with both hands grasping the seat of your chair. Banks’ internal costs include:

$50–$200 monthly for network/monitoring
$50–$250 monthly for telecom
Occasional maintenance and cash handling costs

But—another big one—spread across hundreds, nah, more like thousands of withdrawals, the real cost per transaction is often well under $1. Heee heee haaa ha ha ha—they be laughin’ at us folks! Why they laughin’ at us? Because we patsy consumers be payin’ $3–$5 per transaction! So, it ain’t so funny anymore for sure. Folks, that’s called stealin’, the big RIP. Them punks know exactly what they be doin’, and they be rippin’ us off them dirty rascals. In our down home humble opinion, they outta’ be drop-kicked into the slammer—after they give us our money back. Sure, capitalism encourages making profits, but not by way of gougin’, graft, and sticky-finger opportunistic greedy stealin’.

Why This Matters Spiritually (now we get serious)

The Bible repeatedly condemns:

Unequal weights and measures (Proverbs 20:23)
Oppressing the poor (Isaiah 10:1–2)
Taking advantage of necessity (Amos 8:4–6)—did ya’ll catch this one? It matters just as much to us as to the target audience back in the day. Why?

“Convenience” fees hit hardest the people with the fewest options. Like who? Here’s the short list:

The disabled
Those without cars
Those without checking accounts
Those who must pay online
Those who need cash urgently
Those who—you fill in the blank friend

So, when a company charges far way exceedingly more than its actual cost, it’s not “covering expenses” nope, “Covering expenses” here is stealing dressed in a lie. It’s flat out profiting from people’s lack of alternatives. That’s not “convenience,” are you kidding Mr. and Mrs. Slickster? Let’s just call it what it is, it’s exploitative gouging—and Scripture is unambiguous about Jehovah God’s view of such demonic practices.

A Christian Response

We can:

Name the injustice plainly–that’s what we’re trying to do here.
Advocate for transparent, truly cost-based fees—that’s on the government; state and/or fed to make it happen, they need to work this out fairly. They need to work it out because “convenience” fees will continue to be raised absurdly higher—recall the trend—from way under $1.00 to $5.00+ in not a few cases now, and new niches where they can be applied will continue to surface, each with their own escalating trend. What is a “convenience” fee today will just become some other clever “you-name-it” fee tomorrow.
Encourage businesses and governments to treat people with fairness; our government does that as best as humanly possible, the problem is largely on the business side.
Remind believers involved in this (really, believers do this too? surely you’re joking…) that righteousness includes economic integrity—believer friend reading this, are you a slickster, or turning a blind eye to it in your arena? Give it up already and/or make some internal-to-you changes (“A Letter of Invitation”), then go back to the altar pal. You are not just fleecing your fellow man, you’re whippin’ up on Jesus Himself because that’s what He Himself said: “…Whatever you did to the least of these, you did to Me..” Don’t think for a minute that He didn’t have you in view (Matthew 25:40—do you remember that verse, ever heard it before)?

Praised be your great Name my Lord Jesus, even you, the quintessence of ethics, and fairness, and morals, and righteousness. Amen.