I hate lots of companies. I hate the cable TV people, the satellite radio people, the car dealerships (all of them), some IT support people, some search engine optimization people, radio advertising salespeople, and the list goes on and on.

But I save a special place of hate for the credit card companies and all things associated with them. That association makes me also hate the credit card processing people. I hate the way they charge outrageous fees, I hate the way they charge for their little crappy swiping machines, and I especially hate the way they make it hard to compare one company to another.

Fortunately, there’s a new website that helps. It’s not magic, and it won’t solve every problem, but it is certainly helping shift the balance of power away from the providers and toward the merchants. This website makes it easier for us to get information, and it facilitates the creation of a mini-bidding war for our business.

The site is FeeFighters. You provide a bit of detail about your business and your credit card transactions, and the site collects bids for your business from credit card processors. The deals I spotted were as good or better as anything I’ve found sorting through the local offerings I’ve seen here in North Carolina. It doesn’t resolve all the issues we face as attorneys taking credit cards—like keeping the merchant fees separate from our trust accounts—but the site offers good deals, and that goes a long way. Taking credit cards is expensive, and the more you grow, the more significant the cost becomes.

FeeFighters is a good place to act out some of that hate and start retaking control of our lives. I feel better already.