Visa, MasterCard and their affiliated banks will receive a one-day Valentine gift of $169 million this year because of hidden “interchange” fees collected on transactions during the holiday, the Merchants Payments Coalition (MPC) said today.

“Visa and MasterCard are plucking a few petals off every rose this Valentine’s Day,” MPC Chairman Mallory Duncan said. “Whether it’s a bouquet of flowers, a box chocolates or a diamond ring, credit card companies are seeing a windfall because of their secret interchange fees that drive up the price of virtually every product in virtually every store. In an atmosphere of romance, interchange is a love-hate relationship — Visa and MasterCard love to charge these fees and consumers hate to pay them.”

Valentine’s Day spending is expected to total $16.9 billion this year, according to National Retail Federation. Credit cards typically account for about half of consumer transactions, so at 2 percent that amounts to $169 million, according to MPC calculations.

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