Woodall's Campground Magazine: OHI Joins Coalition to Advocate for Lower Credit Card Fees
OHI, formerly the National Association of RV Parks and Campgrounds, which represents the RV parks, campgrounds, and “glamping” businesses that make up the outdoor hospitality industry, has announced it has joined the Merchants Payments Coalition in an effort to fight to lower credit card fees for its valued members.
READ MORE +
Modern Campground: OHI, Merchants Payments Coalition Work Together to Reduce Credit Card Fees for RV Parks, Campgrounds
OHI, formerly known as the National Association of RV Parks and Campgrounds, has joined the Merchants Payments Coalition to lower credit card fees for RV parks, and campgrounds.
READ MORE +
Motley Fool: Bull Market Buys: 3 Dow Stocks to Own for the Long Run
In this vein, the Merchants Payments Coalition reports total swipe fees collected by credit card middlemen grew from $160 billion in 2022 to a record-breaking $172 billion last year, reflecting the impact of this shift. Again, however, there's plenty more room for this trend to continue.
READ MORE +
Digital Transactions: Merchants Get an Extension to File Monetary Claims in the Big Credit Card Settlement
The court’s decision to grant a filing extension is not a surprise, as it is not unusual from an administrative standpoint to grant plaintiffs extra time to file claims for monetary awards, says Doug Kantor, an MPC executive committee member and general counsel for the National Association of Convenience Stores.
READ MORE +
Financial World: Visa and Mastercard Settle Long-Running Dispute with Merchants
The Merchants Payments Coalition, representing a broad array of retailers, supermarkets, convenience stores, gas stations, and online merchants, has voiced concerns that the temporary fee reductions are insufficient. “The settlement does nothing to actually bring competitive market forces to swipe fees or change the behavior of a cartel that centrally fixes rates and bars competition,” said Christopher Jones, a member of the coalition’s executive committee and senior vice president of government relations at the National Grocers Association. He argued that the settlement offers only token, temporary relief, allowing card companies to raise rates again in the future.
READ MORE +
Digital Transactions: The MPC Fires Back at Claims Merchants Won’t Pass Along CCCA Savings to Consumers
Claims by banks that merchants won’t pass along savings from the Credit Card Competition Act to consumers are grossly misleading and do not reflect the economic realities merchants face, argues the Merchants Payments Coalition, a lobbying group representing sellers on payments-acceptance matters.
READ MORE +
Payments Journal: Fed Receives Overwhelming Response to Proposed Interchange Fee Changes
On the merchant side, the National Retail Federation questioned if the changes would still leave the cap too high. They encouraged the Fed to consider routinely updating the interchange cap in years to come. In the same vein, the Merchants Payments Coalition supported the rate reduction and proposed lower rates.
READ MORE +
Finance Magnates: Debit Card Fees and the Power Struggle Between Merchants and Banks
The Merchants Payments Coalition estimates that exempting more banks from regulations would translate to an additional $4-5 billion annually in swipe fees. This comes at a particularly inopportune time, as merchants are already grappling with rising inflation. For many, these additional fees could erode already thin profit margins.
READ MORE +
Digital Transactions: A Bill That Would Cut the Number of Banks Covered by Durbin Advances Out of Committee
The closeness of the vote suggests many committee members have concerns about the impact of increasing debit card fees on merchants. “The vote shows that members of the committee are realizing that voting to increase inflation is not good policy or good politics,” says Doug Kantor, an MPC executive committee member and general counsel for the National Association of Convenience Stores. Kantor adds that the committee had discussed changes to the proposed asset cap for debit card issuers, and suspects that changes will be required before the bill can advance to a vote by the House. “It’s unlikely that the bill will come to a vote unless changes are made,” Kantor says. “[Being] pro-inflation is not a good thing.”
READ MORE +
Bloomberg Law: Banks Warn Free Accounts at Risk in Fed’s Debit Swipe Fee Plan
“Reducing the fees that are deducted from debit transactions provides cost savings to merchants that ultimately accrue to the benefit of consumers, because merchants operate in an intensely competitive market environment with tight profit margins,” the Merchant Payments Coalition said in a comment letter.
READ MORE +