Fox Business: Swipe fees cost consumers an estimated $578 million on Valentine’s Day
"Valentine’s Day is one of the busiest days of the year for restaurants, but that special meal out is going to cost a little more for the restaurant and the customer this year, thanks to higher swipe fees," Brennan Duckett, a Merchant Payments Coalition Executive Committee member, said. "Whether it’s eating out, buying flowers, or choosing an engagement ring, soaring swipe fees drive up the price of everything U.S. consumers buy and impact what couples can afford."
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Convenience Store News: Visa & Mastercard Swipe Fees Hit $100B in 2023
American merchants were charged $7.5 billion more for credit cards with Visa and Mastercard logos in 2023 than they were in 2022, with fees totaling $100.77 billion by year's end. This was the first time in history that Visa and Mastercard credit card swipe fees surpassed the $100 billion mark, according to the Merchants Payments Coalition.
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NACS Daily: Visa, Mastercard Swipe Fees Hit Record $100 Billion in 2023
According to the MPC, total swipe fees, including from debit cards, topped $172 billion, compared to $160 billion in 2022. Of that figure, more than $132 billion in swipe fees were from debit and credit cards bearing the Visa or Mastercard logos. “Once again, Main Street merchants and consumers were hit with a new record for swipe fees in 2023,” said Christine Pollack, vice president of government relations for FMI—The Food Industry Association. “Last year, Visa and Mastercard fixed the banks’ prices to the tune of more than $100 billion in credit card swipe fees. That is an awful toll for Main Street businesses and their customers to bear.”
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WJAR-TV: Proponents of 'swipe fee' bill argue it won't kill credit card rewards
NBC10 recently asked Doug Kantor, a member of the Merchants Payments Coalition, how credit card companies would make up for the loss in revenue if the Credit Card Competition Act passes. “So they ‘make this up’ is an interesting fallacy that they like to put out there,” Kantor said. “It's as if their current level of profits were written on a stone tablet and they have a God-given right to it, no matter what happens.” He continued, “If you look at it, the banking industry in the United States that issues these credit cards and makes the swipe fees, has the largest profit margin of any industry in the United States - it's 30%.” NBC10 also asked Kantor about claims rewards would disappear. “Economic experts have looked at this. They've studied what's happened around the world, and they found that even if these fees are dramatically cut overnight, rewards don't get reduced one bit,” Kantor argued.
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Payments Dive: Biden, Republicans clash over card fees
“These fees, which are price-fixed by Visa and Mastercard in a way that insulates the fees from normal marketplace competition, impose enormous costs upon American merchants and inflate retail prices paid by American consumers,” said the letter from the Merchants Payments Coalition; Americans for Financial Reform; and the National Association of Convenience Stores, among others.
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Gifts and Decorative Accessories: Scathing Email to Capitol Hill Calls out JPMorgan and Banking Industry for ‘Complete Fabrications’
On the heels of JPMorgan Chase’s move to add a competing processing network to Visa and Mastercard credit cards it issues in France, the Merchants Payments Coalition responded, saying it shows that the the banking industry’s objections to the Credit Card Competition Act “are complete fabrications.” “JPMorgan and its giant banking friends in the U.S. say that offering a network alternative in America will make the sky fall, end rewards, hurt security, and cause the sun to implode and turn into a black hole,” MPC said. “Is it really true … that they actually know everything they are saying here is a fabrication, and they have no problem adding network competitors overseas?”
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Convenience Store News: Industry Speaks Out Against Attempt to Stall Changes to Debit Card Swipe Fees
Now, more than 60 national and state organizations representing consumers and merchants are speaking out against any attempts to put the proposed changes on hold, according to the Merchants Payment Coalition. The Merchants Payments Coalition represents retailers, supermarkets, convenience stores, gasoline stations, online merchants and others fighting for a more competitive and transparent card system that is fair to consumers and merchants. "Every day of further delay in the Fed's consideration of its proposed rule means another day in which large card-issuing banks are deducting significantly more money out of debit transactions than is reasonable, proportional, or allowable under the law Congress passed," the groups said. "That is why financial industry trade associations are seeking to delay the Fed as long as possible from taking action to update its 2011 regulation — delay preserves what for them is an enormously lucrative status quo."
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Gifts and Decorative Accessories: Merchant Groups Fight Against a Delay that ‘Preserves an Enormously Lucrative Status Quo’
The Merchants Payments Coalition cited that under regulations established in 2011, banks that have at least $10 billion in assets and follow rates centrally set by Visa and Mastercard can charge up to 21 cents per debit card transaction plus 1 cent for fraud prevention and 0.05 percent of the transaction amount for fraud loss recovery. Banks can charge any amount they want if they set the fees themselves, but no major banks have done so. Smaller banks are exempt and can charge as much as they like.
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CStore Decisions: How the $35 Billion Capital One/Discover Acquisition Could Affect Retailers
“(The deal) probably doesn’t make much difference at all. It may mean higher debit card fees, but it doesn’t change any of the dynamics on the credit card side with respect to merchants,” said Doug Kantor, general counsel at NACS and a member of the executive committee of the Merchants Payments Coalition. “So, it looks like it’s mostly some downside on debit, but otherwise a relatively unchanged picture.” For the merger to bring swipe fee competition, Kantor said Congress needs to pass the pending Credit Card Competition Act (CCCA), which would give merchants bargaining power with networks.
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Gifts and Decorative Accessories: ‘The Card Industry Is Triple-dipping:’ New Data Shows Record Profits for Banks from Fees, Interest Rates
“The card industry is triple-dipping, making millions of consumers pay three times for their credit cards,” MPC Executive Committee member and National Association of Convenience Stores Senior Vice President of Government Relations Lyle Beckwith said. “The largest banks make consumers pay an annual fee whether they use their card or not, then pay higher prices because of swipe fees every time they make a purchase, then pay huge interest rates on the balance."
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