CNN: Walmart and Target Push to Lower Credit Card Fees
“Swipe fees for credit cards are higher in the United States than anywhere else in the industrialized world — more than seven times as high as Europe,” (the Merchants Payments Coalition and hundreds of businesses) wrote in a letter to lawmakers last week. “They are an inflation multiplier.”
READ MORE +
NACS Daily: Bills in the House, Senate Seek to Inject Competition Into the Credit Card Market
“The Credit Card Competition Act will help Main Street businesses and consumers deal with credit card swipe fees that have exploded to more than $900 per American family each year,” (Doug) Kantor said, who is a MPC Executive Committee member. “Representatives Welch and Gooden should be commended for their willingness to stand up against powerful Wall Street megabanks that all agree to charge the same centrally fixed prices to the detriment of American consumers and small businesses."
READ MORE +
Payments Dive: House Lawmakers Add Credit Card Competition Bill
The Merchants Payments Coalition (MPC) noted credit and debit card swipe fees reached a record $137.8 billion last year. For most merchants, those fees are the highest operating cost after labor. They’re also passed on to consumers, the MPC contended, driving up consumer prices by about $900 a year for the average family in 2021. “U.S. swipe fees are the highest in the industrialized world and the card industry wants to keep them hidden so American families don’t know how much they’re paying,” said MPC Executive Committee member Doug Kantor in a news release. “This legislation would make card networks compete and give them incentives to improve service and security while keeping costs in check.”
READ MORE +
Barron's: Visa and Mastercard Get Nearly All Credit Card Swipe Fees. A New Bill Wants to Break Their Hold
“The Credit Card Competition Act would bring much-needed relief to retailers and American consumers by simply requiring that Visa and Mastercard compete with other networks for both merchant and bank business,” the Merchants Payments Coalition, which represents merchant trade groups, said in the letter.
READ MORE +
NACS Daily: Nearly 1,700 Merchants Call on Congress to Support Swipe Fee Legislation
The letters—signed by 1,668 companies and 231 trade associations—were sent to all members of the House and Senate by the Merchants Payments Coalition. Both asked lawmakers to co-sponsor or support S. 4674, the Credit Card Competition Act, which was introduced in July by Sen. Durbin (D-Ill.) and Sen. Marshall (R-Kan.). Signers include retailers, grocers, convenience stores, gas stations, restaurants, hotels and a wide variety of other merchants of all sizes, along with associations representing the same sectors.
READ MORE +
Wall Street Journal: Walmart, Target Urge Lawmakers to Pass Bill Taking Aim at Visa, Mastercard Fees
Hundreds of small retailers were among nearly 1,700 merchants signing an MPC letter to Congress: “Swipe fees for credit cards are higher in the United States than anywhere else in the industrialized world—more than seven times as high as Europe,” said the merchant group, which includes a diverse assortment of small businesses like gas stations, restaurants and grocers along with giant chain retailers. “In 2021 alone, U.S. merchants and consumers paid nearly $138 billion in card fees.”
READ MORE +
Wall Street Journal: Why Using Your Credit Card is Getting More Expensive
The cost to process a credit card transaction has gone up and many businesses are passing that on to the consumer. WSJ explains the hidden fees behind using your card, and what Congress is trying to do about them.
READ MORE +
The Economist: Can the Visa-Mastercard Duopoly Be Broken?
The system of interchange -- whereby banks and credit card companies charge merchants for collecting payments -- is loathed by many retailers. Merchants hand over some $138 billion in fees each year, according to the National Retail Federation.
READ MORE +
Supermarket News: FMI, NGA Endorse Credit Card Competition Act
Both FMI and NGA are members of the Merchants Payments Coalition, which for nearly two decades has fought for swipe fee reform, including the passage in 2010 of the Durbin Amendment, a landmark law that prevents financial institutions from price-gouging debit interchange fees and led to increased competition and transparency in the debit marketplace.
READ MORE +
Payments Dive: Let the Credit Card Battle Begin
While trade groups representing the card networks and their financial institution partners, like the Electronic Payments Coalition, are already vocally attacking the bill, large merchant groups, such as the National Retail Federation and the Merchants Payments Coalition, are predictably egging the legislation on.
READ MORE +