Are credit card 'checkout fees' coming?

Keep a look-out when you swipe your credit card. It could soon get a little more expensive -- at least in some places.

You might recall hearing last summer about a $6 billion settlement between merchants like Walgreens and credit card issuers and big banks -- like Visa and Bank of America. The stores for years had said the banks and issuers had colluded to set swipe fees and prevent the merchants from recouping any of that money.

Well, one of the main components of the deal allows retailers to charge a small "checkout fee" on credit card transactions, which had largely been prohibited before. That just went into effect Sunday.

Industry leaders generally don't expect to see a swift, sudden move toward these fees, and some giants like Walmart and Target might never introduce them. Big companies introducing unpopular fees doesn't always work out so well.

Small businesses will have to decide for themselves whether they want to go this route.

If a store does decide to charge them, they'll have to provide clear disclosure before a shopper makes the purchase. It'll also have to show up on the receipt.

Update: After seeing some of the comments, I decided to update with more information. This only applies to credit cards, not debit cards or prepaid cards. Merchants still can't add surcharges on debit card transactions.

This is also not part of Dodd-Frank. The confusion comes from the Durbin Amendment of Dodd-Frank, which capped swipe fees on debit card transactions. It got a lot of attention when it went into effect in fall 2011. It deals with a similar topic, but is not the same.