Merchants Advocate Says Visa, MC Swipe Fees Taking Eggs Out of Easter Baskets
“Banks and card companies will be grabbing eggs out of the Easter basket again this spring through the rising fees they charge to process credit card transactions,” MPC Executive Committee member and National Retail Federation Vice President for Government Relations, Banking and Financial Services Leon Buck said. “Not even the Easter Bunny is exempt from these fees."
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Swipe Fees Cost Each Consumer 2 Dozen Easter Eggs
Credit card swipe fees could cost the average consumer the equivalent of two dozen eggs this Easter and total hundreds of millions of dollars nationwide, according to the Merchants Payments Coalition.
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Ad Campaign Will Highlight Harm of Credit Card Swipe Fees
With fees set to rise in April, the Merchants Payments Coalition (MPC) announced an advertising campaign to educate Congress and other policymakers on high “swipe” fees that credit card networks and big banks charge merchants to process transactions and the impact the fees have on consumers, small businesses and the U.S. economy.
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CFPB's Chopra blasts potential card hikes
A spokesperson for Visa declined to comment, but a spokesperson at the merchant trade group FMI--The Food Industry Association weighed in. “Director Chopra is absolutely correct that these increases come at the worst possible time and that the U.S. payments system lacks competition," said the FMI spokesperson, Jennifer Hatcher, who is also an executive committee member for the Merchants Payments Coalition. "We appreciate the attention he is bringing to this growing issue and his willingness to address it head on."
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Are Visa and Mastercard's Swipe Fees Out of Control?
The Merchants Payments Coalition (MPC) earlier this week sent a letter to the House Financial Services Committee calling on it and Congress to investigate what the trade association calls Visa and Mastercard’s anti-competitive dominance over the U.S. credit and debit card markets.
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Visa and Mastercard's Long-Delayed Interchange Hikes May Arrive Next Month
The Merchant Payments Coalition (MPC) is lobbying the US Congress to block fee increases. A wholesale injunction is unlikely, but an investigation isn't out of the question.
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The Fight Over Swipe Fees is Heating Up
The MPC has since taken its efforts a step further. On March 8, it called on Congress to investigate Visa and Mastercard's "anticompetitive dominance" over the U.S. credit and debit card markets, citing President Joe Biden's call in his State of the Union address to fight inflation by increasing competition.
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Visa Will Lower Credit Card Swipe Fees for Small Business
As a concession to complaints about rate hikes as inflation increases, Visa agreed to lower some rates for small businesses, along with businesses in the travel and day care industries. Fresh criticism of the concession was led by the Merchants Payments Coalition, who believe the swipe fee reductions affect too small a sector and will do nothing to help the vast majority of retailers coping with soaring inflation.
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Merchants Ask Congress to Investigate Visa and Mastercard Fees
The Merchants Payments Coalition has called on Congress to investigate Visa and Mastercard’s anticompetitive dominance over the U.S. credit and debit card markets, citing President Biden’s call in his State of the Union address to fight inflation by increasing competition, according to a news release.
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Swipe Fees Are Falling for Small Businesses. Or Are They?
A concession on interchange rates has done little to appease a merchant lobbying group that is hoping lawmakers will prevent Visa and Mastercard from changing their fees in April. The card networks are planning to implement a long-delayed increase in certain swipe fees next month, but they agreed to cut rates on some transactions for small businesses and the travel and day care industries. The Merchants Payments Coalition says the targeted cuts are small potatoes and won’t help the vast majority of retailers coping with credit card interchange rates that are cutting into profits as inflation soars.
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