Convenience Store News: Trade Groups and Companies Unite in Call for Swipe Fee Changes
Almost 2,000 companies and nearly 300 trade associations organized through the Merchants Payments Coalition called on Congress to pass the Credit Card Competition Act as lawmakers returned to Washington, D.C., this week.
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Digital Transactions: The Payments Lobby Cites Harm in Its New Advertising Salvo Against the CCCA
Doug Kantor, an executive committee member at the Merchants Payments Coalition and general counsel for the National Association of Convenience Stores, questions the potential effectiveness the EPC’s ad campaign will have in swaying lawmakers. Legislators, he says, would have to buy into what he claims is misleading and false information the EPC has put out about the CCCA. “The EPC has repeatedly run ads [opposing the CCCA] that are false, and this is more of the same,” Kantor says. In response to opponents, Kantor argues it is association executives, not necessarily association members, who are against the CCCA. “When you talk to members directly about the CCCA, the results are mixed,” Kantor says. In addition, Kantor adds that arguments that small banks and credit unions would be harmed by passage of the CCCA are moot. “No community bank or any bank in Kansas meets the $100-billion-in-assets threshold that would require card issuers to offer a choice of networks, and only one credit union does,” Kantor says. “This is more of the same misleading talk about the entities that would not be regulated by the CCCA.”
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Nashville Tennessean: Credit Card Swipe Fees Add to Consumers' Costs, But Here's a Fix Congress Can Make
In 2021, (swipe fees) drove up prices for the average family by about $900 a year and in 2022 the amount increased to over $1,000 a year, according to the Merchants Payments Coalition. That’s a huge amount for working families in Tennessee still struggling under the stress of inflation and the uncertainties of today’s economy.
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Digital Transactions: The CFPB's Chopra Cites a Need for Competition to Cap Card Acceptance Costs
“Swipe fees have a huge negative impact on consumers, and it’s significant to see the head of a consumer-protection agency expressing concern about them,” Doug Kantor, an MPC executive committee member and National Association of Convenience Stores general counsel, said in a statement. “These fees are too much for small businesses to absorb, so it’s consumers who ultimately pay swipe fees through higher prices. That is why a broad range of consumer and union groups recently formed a coalition to support reform of credit card swipe fees.”
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Payments Dive: Trade Group Girds for 2024 CCCA Fight
The National Retail Federation, National Association of Convenience Stores and the Merchants Payments Coalition are among the interest groups that have supported the legislation. The banks have locked arms to keep interchange fees higher than they should be, contends Doug Kantor, general counsel at the National Association of Convenience Stores. “They’re simply using the billions of dollars in swipe fees collected on the backs of small businesses and American families to try to stop anyone from looking too closely at their harmful actions,” Kantor said in an emailed statement. He’s also a member of the executive committee of the Merchants Payments Coalition.
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Retail Customer Experience: Swipe Fees Could Cost Consumers This Holiday Season
"After a year of high inflation, the last thing consumers need is high credit card fees that make holiday purchases from toys to Christmas trees more expensive," MPC Executive Committee member and National Retail Federation Chief Administrative Officer and General Counsel Stephanie Martz said in a press release. "Swipe fees charged by banks drive up the cost of everything Americans buy during the holidays and only Scrooge would think that's fair as many families struggle to put smiles on children's faces. It's time to put Santa ahead of the Grinch and pass legislation to bring these fees under control."
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American Banker: In Fighting Credit Card Proposals, GOP Focuses on Impact to Consumers
Doug Kantor, general counsel for the National Association of Convenience Stores and a member of the Merchants Payments Coalition, said that there's "common elements" between the Durbin bill, which he's been involved in discussions with for years, and the pushback against the CFPB proposal. "Every time you talk about regulation, the banking industry says the sky is falling," he said. "And that is the perfect summation of their reaction to every proposal. 'If you do that it will hurt someone and it'll be consumers.' And with respect to the Credit Card Competition Act specifically, it is plainly untrue."
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Real Clear Markets: Credit Card Swipe Fees Are Driving Up Holiday Prices
Swipe fees aren’t just a holiday problem. They have soared more than 50% since the pandemic and hit a record $160.7 billion last year, costing American families over $1,000 annually in higher prices, according to the Merchants Payments Coalition.
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Payments Dive: Marshall Keeps Up CCCA Crusade
Retail trade groups such as the National Retail Federation and the Merchants Payments Coalition have backed the legislation on behalf of convenience store chains and big box retailers as well as smaller local retail businesses.
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Politico Morning Money: The Influence(r) Game
The endless fight between merchant groups and the payments industry over a credit card swipe fee bill led by Sens. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) and Roger Marshall’s (R-Kansas) took another swing into the world of social media influencers on Tuesday, Sam reports. The Merchants Payments Coalition, which represents retailers, published a memo that the Electronic Payments Coalition distributed to influencers with talking points on how the bill would kill credit card reward programs. It also included rules for receiving payment in exchange for their posts. The watchdog group Accountable.US has also published reports on the financial services industry’s social media influence campaign.
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