The fees just straight up don't exist for customers now. They havent for decades.

Its even illegal to charge one at all if your bank has a few billion in assets.

So at worse a company might pass their processing fees onto their customers.

But banks can't charge you one and most companies don't either. It's just a cost of doing business.

So only the poorest shittiest banks, and the shittiest companies charge one. That or small businesses that can't afford to eat the 2.5 to 3% that's common.

But functionally debt cards are just a free service as far as the consumer is concerned.

You obviously don't have a debit card. It's not "a permutation" of a credit card and they don't come from visa or MasterCard. You're talking about a credit line through your bank. I own a debit card. From my bank. With only my bank as the issuer. It takes money directly from my bank account when I use it. No creditor involved. It's a money transfer straight from my bank account to the retailer I use it at. Millions of people have them.