FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: J. Craig Shearman
(202) 257-3678 craig@shearmancommunications.com
WASHINGTON, March 6, 2025 – A leading member of the Merchants Payments Coalition is calling on Congress to pass the Credit Card Competition Act to bring down credit card “swipe” fees that drive up consumer prices.
“Credit card swipe fees are not set based on a competitive market and have grown out of control,” Asian American Hotel Owners Association President and CEO Laura Lee Blake said, explaining that Visa and Mastercard centrally set swipe fee rates charged to merchants by all banks that issue cards under their brands.
“We would not allow this to happen in any other part of the economy because it undercuts the most basic principles of competition,” Blake said. “But the credit card industry has gotten away with it for years. Frankly, their behavior is worse than what OPEC does on oil prices. It needs to be changed because this drives up costs for merchants and their customers – and undercuts any incentive for new payments innovation that could improve the payment system for all Americans. This untenable situation has gone on too long. It’s time for Congress to act.”
Blake’s comments came in a letter to House and Senate leadership. AAHOA represents 20,000 hotel owners who operate 60% of hotels across the country and rely heavily on credit cards for payments.
Credit and debit card swipe fees hit a record $172 billion in 2023. The fees are most merchants’ highest operating cost after labor and drive up prices by more than $1,100 a year for the average family, a number Blake said is “far too much money.”
Unlike swipe fee caps in other countries or legislation pending to cap credit card interest rates, the CCCA places no limit on swipe fees and instead only introduces marketplace competition.
“The bill is a compromise position,” Blake said. “The complaints that the credit card industry has invented to oppose the bill all ignore the fact that other proposals and reforms in place in much of the rest of the world are much worse for the card industry and involve much more active regulatory interventions.”
The AAHOA letter comes as sponsors are preparing to reintroduce the CCCA for the new session of Congress. Visa and Mastercard control over 80% of the market and currently block competition by restricting processing to their own networks in addition to centrally setting swipe fee rates. The legislation would address that by requiring that credit cards issued by the nation’s largest banks be enabled to be processed over competing networks like NYCE, Star or Shazam rather than just Visa and Mastercard. Routing choice would create competition that is expected to save merchants and consumers over $16 billion a year while improving security and service.
About MPC
The Merchants Payments Coalition represents retailers, supermarkets, convenience stores, gasoline stations, online merchants and others fighting for a more competitive and transparent card system that is fair to consumers and merchants. Follow MPC on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn for the latest on swipe fees.
