Bloomberg: Judge Likely to Reject $30 Billion Visa, Mastercard Fee Deal
Swipe fees totaled more than $172 billion last year, according to the Merchants Payments Coalition. Reactions were mixed when the settlement was announced in March, with some coalitions of retailers pledging to take a close look and some quickly opposing it. ... “We’re gratified to see that the court recognized how bad this settlement was,” said Doug Kantor, general counsel for the National Association of Convenience Stores (and MPC Executive Committee member).
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Mass Market Retailers: Merchants Payments Coalition urges passing of Credit Card Completion Act after hearing
The Merchants Payment Coalition has urged Congress to pass the Credit Card Completion Act after strong opposition from merchants voiced at a hearing today on a proposed class action settlement over Visa and Mastercard credit card “swipe” fees. “As heard from merchants today, this proposed settlement does nothing to address the problem of how Visa and Mastercard centrally price fix swipe fees,” MPC Executive Committee member and National Grocers Association Senior Vice President of Government Relations and Counsel Christopher Jones said. “Instead, the settlement locks in cartel pricing. Every major merchant group has come out against this settlement, and everyone should see this proposal for what it is – a sham that will make the situation worse. We need competition to fix this broken market and that means passing the Credit Card Competition Act.”
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PYMNTS: Judge Expected to Reject Visa, Mastercard Swipe Fee Settlement
At least one group representing merchants was pleased with the development. Doug Kantor, general counsel for the National Association of Convenience Stores (and MPC Executive Committee member), said: “We’re gratified to see that the court recognized how bad this settlement was,” per the report.
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Retail Customer Experience: eBay drops American Express credit card acceptance
eBay will no longer accept American Express credit cards citing the swipe fees charged to merchants. The move, according to a press release from the Merchants Payments Coalition, is a "symptom of the underlying problem" impacting retailers.
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Digital Transactions: Illinois heads toward landmark card interchange fee restrictions
Other states, including Texas and Florida, have been considering such bills, but the Illinois legislature is the first to pass such legislation, according to National Association of Convenience Stores General Counsel Doug Kantor, who has been tracking bills on the topic. Driving the trend is a realization that businesses shouldn’t have to reach into their own pockets to pay the swipe fees when they’re collecting money on behalf of others, he said. “There’s a recognition that there’s a very fundamental unfairness going on here: The actual tax dollars that merchants are collecting on behalf of the state are being taken away by the credit card companies,” Kantor said in an interview Friday. “It’s like they’re being penalized for helping out the state in collecting taxes.” That principle holds true with respect workers’ tips as well, he said. Merchants run the risk of upsetting employees and customers if they don’t pass all of the tip to workers, but conversely they’ll need to debit themselves if they don’t take the fees out of the gratuity, he said. Kantor is also executive committee member of the Merchants Payments Coalition, which is one of the merchant trade groups that have backed the CCCA proposal.
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Digital Transactions: Is eBay’s Decision to Drop AmEx a Ploy To Negotiate Lower Acceptance Costs?
EBay’s move to drop AmEx is also seen by merchant advocates as an indication that sellers are increasingly put off by what they view as the high cost of card acceptance, which is typically measured by the interchange rate, or the percentage of the sale paid by merchants to processors. “Whether it is a small merchant tacking on a surcharge to cover card-acceptance costs or a move to stop accepting a card, there is no question merchants of all sizes are fed up with the high cost of interchange,” says Doug Kantor, an MPC executive committee member and general counsel for the National Association of Convenience Stores.
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London Daily Mail: Another retailer bans American Express, joining revolt led by Costco
According to non-profit the Merchants Payments Coalition, swipe fees have more than doubled over the past decade, and hit a record $172 billion last year when debit cards and all brands of credit cards are included. The fees are most merchants' highest operating cost after labor and drive up prices for the average family by more than $1,100 a year, the group said. "AmEx is just a symptom of the underlying problem,' MPC Executive Committee member and National Association of Convenience Stores General Counsel Doug Kantor said in a statement on Wednesday. Visa and Mastercard each centrally price-fix high swipe fees that are uniformly charged by all banks that issue cards under their brands rather than letting the banks compete for merchants' business."
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RVBusiness: OHI Representatives on Capitol Hill for RVs Move America Week
One of these new relationships is OHI’s recently announced alliance with the Merchants Payments Coalition, a group of more than 20 associations in the retail, restaurant and hotel industry united specifically on the passage of the Credit Card Competition Act. The average RV park and campground in the United States is paying thousands of dollars each month in credit card swipe fees—accumulated every time a camper uses a credit card to reserve a campsite online or in person, or purchases goods at the camp store. The Credit Card Competition Act would break up the stranglehold Visa and Mastercard have on creating these fees, which will increase competition, lower fees for businesses like RV parks and campgrounds that run credit-card transactions.
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Digital Transactions: Is the CCCA’s Fate All About Marketing?
Issue-oriented campaigns, especially those centered on a bill or referendum, are about hope and fear, says Kent Syler, a professor of political science and public policy at Middle Tennessee State University. In the case of the CCCA, the MPC is offering a message of hope while the EPC is pitching a message of fear. “Fear is a big motivator in politics, and when dealing with change the fear side has an advantage unless the status quo is so egregious that no one is happy with it,” says Syler, who served as a Congressional aide for 26 years. “Introducing an element of risk that changing the status can hurt you can be a very effective message, because people tend to be risk-averse by nature.”
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Digital Transactions: The Fed Touches Off the Latest Interchange Battle
Both the NRF and the MPC contend the Fed’s proposed rate reduction would give debit issuers average profit margins of 270%, which they say is nine times the 30% average profit margins large banks make on their businesses overall. “The [debit interchange] rate ought to be capped at 6 cents per transaction, as the average cost of a debit transaction for banks is 3.9 cents,” says Doug Kantor, an MPC executive committee member and general counsel for the National Association of Convenience Stores. “[Large] banks earn a 35% margin on debit transactions, which is higher than the profit margin on their business as a whole.”
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