MarketWatch: What a legal snag in landmark merchant suit could mean for Visa and Mastercard
MPC: “While the case has been in court for nearly 20 years, the four basis-point reduction is illusory and would not come close to addressing the fact that the average rate has grown two dozen basis points, from 2.02%, since 2010.”
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Wall Street Journal: Proposed Visa and Mastercard Swipe-Fees Settlement Is Likely to Be Thrown Out
“This proposed settlement does nothing to address the problem of how Visa and Mastercard centrally price fix swipe fees,” said Christopher Jones, executive committee member of the Merchants Payments Coalition in a statement.
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Reuters: Visa, Mastercard $30 billion fee settlement in peril
Swipe fees totaled $172 billion, opens new tab in 2023, and have more than doubled in the last decade, according to the Merchants Payments Coalition, which represents retailers, grocers, convenience stores and gas stations.
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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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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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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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