Convenience Store News: Federal Reserve Extends Comment Period for Debit Card Swipe Fee Changes
Numerous retail groups, including the National Retail Federation (NRF), the Retail Industry Leaders Association and the Merchants Payments Coalition, applauded the proposal (to lower debit card swipe fees) but raised concerns that the revisions do not go far enough, as Convenience Store News previously reported. "This is a significant reduction that will save money for retailers and their customers, and we welcome the progress that has been made," said NRF Chief Administrative Officer and General Counsel (and MPC Executive Committee member) Stephanie Martz. "Nonetheless, it still doesn't get to the 'reasonable' level Congress sought and it isn't proportional to banks' falling costs."
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Trade Groups Back Law to Tackle Credit Card Swipe Fees
In an open letter sent last week, trade groups like the National Retail Federation, the Merchants Payments Coalition and the National Small Business Association again threw their weight behind the bipartisan and bicameral Credit Card Competition Act, sponsored by Senators Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) and Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) and Representatives Lance Gooden (R-Tex.) and Zoe Lofgren (D-Ca.).
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NACS Daily: Thousands of Companies Call on Congress to Fix Swipe Fees
Almost 2,000 companies and nearly 300 trade associations called on Congress to pass the Credit Card Competition Act as lawmakers returned to Washington this week, the Merchants Payments Coalition said.
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Digital Transactions: Merchants Nudge Congress to Vote on the CCCA as Members Reconvene for 2024
he battle between merchants, on one hand, and financial institutions and payment networks, on the other, over the Credit Card Competition Act continues to heat up. The Merchants Payments Coalition on Thursday sent a letter to Congress signed by nearly 2,000 merchants, including hundreds of small businesses, calling on legislators to pass the CCCA. The latest move follows a similar letter sent to Congress Wednesday from 291 merchant trade associations from every state and Puerto Rico.
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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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