PRESS RELEASES

May 11, 2021

Merchants Call on Fed to Cut Debit Card Swipe Fee Rate as Banks’ Costs Fall, Applaud Routing Announcement

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEContact: J. Craig Shearman(202) 257-3678 craig@shearmancommunications.com WASHINGTON, May 11, 2021 – The Merchants Payments Coalition called on the Federal Reserve today to revise debit card swipe fee regulations adopted a decade ago, citing a new Fed report showing banks’ average cost of processing the transactions has fallen by half. MPC also welcomed the […]

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MPC IN THE NEWS

April 22, 2021

Visa, Mastercard Face Biggest Challenges in a Decade

Regulatory, legislative and court confrontations over the card network companies’ fees are ratcheting up pressure again for reform of the behemoths’ practices. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin was riled up when he leaned into his microphone to speak last month at an antitrust subcommittee hearing. The source of his consternation? The dominance of Visa and […]

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PRESS RELEASES

March 19, 2021

Merchants Welcome Reported DOJ Investigation of Visa Debit Card Routing Issues

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEContact: J. Craig Shearman(202) 257-3678 craig@shearmancommunications.com WASHINGTON, March 19, 2021 – The Merchants Payments Coalition welcomed published reports today that the Department of Justice is investigating whether Visa is engaging in anticompetitive practices related to how debit card transactions are routed for processing. “The MPC has been concerned about these practices to limit […]

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MPC IN THE NEWS

March 19, 2021

U.S. Justice Department Probing Visa Over Debit Practices

The Justice Department is looking at Visa Inc’s debit practices, the company said on Friday, after reports the United States was investigating whether the credit card company uses anticompetitive practices in the debit-card market.

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MPC IN THE NEWS

March 17, 2021

Merchant Trade Groups Press Legislative Action Against Visa, Mastercard

The Merchants Payments Coalition (MPC), another group of retailers, restaurants, gas stations and other merchants focused on the credit card fee issue, took the argument a step further, calling on Visa and Mastercard to lower their fees.

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MPC IN THE NEWS

March 16, 2021

Payments Source: EMV deadline nears for gas stations, but many won’t make it

The card brands are taking their last major step in the U.S. EMV migration by enforcing a liability shift at fuel stations. The April 17 deadline has been delayed multiple times — it was originally set for October 2015 — even as the rest of the country marched ahead with EMV conversions at the point […]

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PRESS RELEASES

March 16, 2021

Merchants Welcome Delay of Visa/Mastercard Swipe Fee Hike but Say Fees Are Still Too High

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEContact: J. Craig Shearman(202) 257-3678 craig@shearmancommunications.com WASHINGTON, March 16, 2021 – The Merchants Payments Coalition welcomed today’s announcement by Visa and Mastercard that nearly $1.2 billion in credit card swipe fee increases will be postponed for a year, but said existing fees are already too high and need to be addressed by Congress. […]

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MPC IN THE NEWS

March 16, 2021

Credit Card Swipe Fee Increases Temporarily Delayed

The Merchants Payments Coalition welcomed Visa and Mastercard’s announcement that nearly $1.2 billion in credit card swipe fee increases will be postponed for a year, but said existing fees are already too high and need to be addressed by Congress.

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MPC IN THE NEWS

March 16, 2021

Visa, Mastercard to Delay Merchant Fee Hikes Another Year

Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. are postponing plans to boost the fees U.S. merchants pay when consumers use credit cards online, pushing back the changes another year to April 2022 because of the pandemic.

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MPC IN THE NEWS

March 16, 2021

Card brands postpone fee hike, but merchants want interchange reform

The major card networks have postponed a planned interchange fee hike yet again in light of the reality of an ongoing pandemic, pleas from merchant groups and pressure from Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill. But while this one-year delay provides immediate relief, it doesn’t address the long-term concerns critics have raised over how much power the […]

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