Supermarket News: Retailers Press Hard for Credit Card Processing Reform
In the latest salvo in the battle between over transaction pricing between retailer organizations and payment card processors Visa and Mastercard, the Merchants Payments Coalition (MPC) is now asking lawmakers to pass legislation that would allow additional payment networks to process bank card transactions — a move the MPC hopes will create competition and potentially lower the pain of credit card swipe fees.
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Credit Unions Today: While CUs Express Strong Opposition, Nearly 2,000 Merchants Sign Letter Supporting Credit Card Competition Act
The nearly 2,000 merchants are all signatories on a letter that was sent by the Merchants Payments Coalition (MPC) to Congress. The letter argues the bill will bring “long-sought competition to credit card swipe fees that drive up costs for consumers.”
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Convenience Store News: Retailers Continue to Push for Passage of Credit Card Competition Act
"Support for swipe fee competition is quickly building and this letter from a broad cross section of merchants is proof," said Doug Kantor, Merchants Payments Coalition Executive Committee member and NACS general counsel.
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CSP Daily News: 1,800 Merchants Sign On to Latest Swipe Fee Battle
As Congress heads into its lame-duck session, more than 1,800 merchants from across the country called on lawmakers this week to pass legislation that would bring long-sought competition to credit-card swipe fees, according to the Merchants Payments Coalition.
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NACS Daily: Over 1,800 Merchants Ask Congress to Support Credit Card Competition Act
In a letter sent by the Merchants Payments Coalition to all members of the House and Senate, merchants asked lawmakers to support the Credit Card Competition Act sponsored by Senators Richard Durbin, D-Ill., and Roger Marshall, R-Kan., and Representatives Peter Welch, D-Vt., and Lance Gooden, R-Texas.
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Bloomberg Law: Visa, Mastercard Face Emerging Competition in Online Payments
The Fed’s current two-or-more-processors requirement for in-person, card-present transactions was enacted in 2011 through an amendment to the Dodd-Frank Act. That change succeeded in increasing Visa and Mastercard’s competition for processing in-person debit card payments. Smaller processors processed more than 40% of such transactions in 2019, the Fed said. But the two credit card giants continue to dominate the networks that process remote, card-not-present debit transactions, said Doug Kantor, general counsel of the National Association of Convenience Stores. The association is a member of Merchants Payments Coalition, a group of retailers that advocates for greater transparency and competition in the US payments system.
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Credit Union Times: Credit Unions Claim a Win in Interchange Fight
But the issue is not dead. Doug Kantor, general counsel for the National Association of Convenience Stores and a member of a retail coalition that supported the interchange provisions, said the interchange provisions could be added to the NDAA on the floor. “This is just the beginning of debate over the NDAA and there are many senators who are very concerned about the impact of high swipe fees on veterans who have bravely served their country,” Kantor said. “The swipe fees that the DOD pays to banks and card networks and get passed on to veterans make this issue very germane to the bill.”
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Payments Dive: Durbin Credit Card Amendment Hits Speed Bump
Merchant supporters remain optimistic the bill will advance. “This is just the beginning of debate over the NDAA and there are many senators who are very concerned about the impact of high swipe fees on veterans who have bravely served their country,” National Association of Convenience Stores General Counsel Doug Kantor said in a statement. “We look forward to seeing senators address this issue during floor consideration of the bill.” Kantor is also an executive committee member for the Merchants Payments Coalition.
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The Hill: Retailers Wage Last-Ditch Battle Against Credit Giants Over Swipe Fees
“Small businesses are asking their customers to pay with cash because they can’t afford these high swipe fees,” said Leon Buck, vice president of government relations at the National Retail Federation (and MPC Executive Committee member). “We need freedom to negotiate. That’s what this is about.”
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PYMNTS.com: The Unintended Consequences of Durbin's Proposed Routing Legislation
Competition, through routing mandates, proponents say would drive down the transaction costs for merchants since merchants could opt to send Visa and Mastercard transactions over lower cost rails. In a letter to Congress, the Merchant Payments Coalition (MPC) said the credit card market is “not functioning,” since it is dominated by Visa and Mastercard, with a combined 83% market share. According to the MPC and its members, this purported lack of competition drives up prices for merchants and they say, ultimately consumers and “strangles” innovation. The four-party model that supports the general-purpose credit card market globally is monetized through credit card interchange rates set by the networks and paid by the merchants who accept credit cards issued by banks. MPC says that those fees mean that merchants are forced to pass those higher costs onto consumers.
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