Las Vegas Sun: Legislation Aimed at Cutting Credit Card Fees Could Adversely Affect Las Vegas Tourism
Dylan Jeon, vice president of legal affairs for the National Retail Federation (and MPC Executive Committee member), said nothing in the proposed bill specifically mentions rewards programs. “At the end of the day, these programs aren’t regulated by any agency or anything like that,” he said. “It’s totally at the control and discretion of the banks or the airline that manages them.”
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Minneapolis Star Tribune: Small Businesses and Shoppers Grapple With Conundrum of Credit Card Swipe Fees
"Business owners, local restaurant owners, all those sorts of folks have seen this huge cost of theirs, which on average is their second-highest operating cost already, just explode," said Doug Kantor, general counsel of the National Association of Convenience Stores (and MPC Executive Committee member).
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Digital Transactions: A Dose of Reality on the Broken Credit Card Market
Op-ed by MPC Executive Committee member and NACS General Counsel responds to card industry claims about the Credit Card Competition Act, saying "all of them are wrong."
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Wenatchee Business Journal: Proposed Credit Card Competition Act Aims to Tackle Rising Swipe Fees
A recent survey conducted by the Merchants Payments Coalition indicates that over 65% of those surveyed support the Credit Card Competition Act. This level of support underscores the growing concern among businesses and consumers about rising swipe fees.
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WGN-AM: Small Business Owners Call for Clampdown on Credit Card Surcharges
MPC Executive Committee member and NACS General Counsel Doug Kantor is interviewed live about rising swipe fees and the need to pass the Credit Card Competition Act
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London Daily Mail: America's $93 Billion 'Swipe Fee' Ripoff, Small Business Owners Call for Clampdown on Credit Card Charges Which Are Pushing Up the Cost of Your Groceries
The fees are a percentage of a transaction amount so they automatically increase when there's inflation,' said Doug Kantor from the Merchants Payments Coalition. 'The fees go up and that acts as a multiplier of that inflationary effect because merchants then have to increase their prices. They have to chase their tail to keep up with the increases.'
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Reading Eagle: Grocers Compete; Why Can't Credit Card Companies?
Credit and debit card swipe fees have more than doubled over the past decade and skyrocketed $22 billion last year to a record $160.7 billion, including $3.4 billion in Pennsylvania. They are most merchants’ highest operating cost after labor and drive up prices by more than $1,000 a year for the average family, according to the Merchants Payments Coalition.
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Sinclair Broadcasting: Credit Card Competition Act -- A Push for Lower Swipe Fees, Potential Savings for Consumers
“The bottom line is that the only pressure and incentive on that swipe fee is to raise it because banks are going to decide whether they want ... to issue a Visa credit card or a Mastercard credit card based on who's going to let them charge the highest fee and bring them the highest volume,” said Stephanie Martz, general counsel for the National Retail Federation and an executive committee member for the Merchant Payment Coalition.
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Entrepreneur: Sorry, Points Lovers -- Buying With a Credit Card Can Be Costly for Small Businesses
According to the Merchants Payments Coalition, an organization aimed at payment reform in the U.S., retailers across the county now bear an annual burden of roughly $160 billion in "swipe fees" — charges imposed on merchants for processing card payments. Doug Kantor, a member of the coalition's executive committee, told NPR that the figure has surged by more than 50% since 2020. "It is unfortunately a very unjust system and one that's hidden from most of us so that we really don't even know what's happening," Kantor told the outlet.
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NACS Daily: Senate Appropriations Package on Hold
Fifty convenience retailers and state association executives traveled to Washington, DC on September 20 to make the pitch for the legislation to Senators in person, as part of a fly-in coordinated by NACS and the Merchants Payments Coalition.
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