Merchants Call on OCC to Drop Swipe Fee Rule, Saying Price-Fixing Impact Could Go ‘Far Beyond’ Credit Cards
MPC urged the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to withdraw a pending rule intended to block state laws on credit card swipe fees, saying the measure endorses price-fixing that could drive up a wide range of fees banks charge both merchants and consumers.
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News Anyway: The Credit Card Swipe Fee War , Main Street Retailers Take on Visa and Mastercard
The Merchants Payments Coalition has persisted in advocating for legislative action, especially with regard to routing changes akin to those implemented for debit card transactions following the 2010 Dodd-Frank reforms.
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WCPT-AM/Heartland Signal: Big banks and Illinois retailers clash over landmark credit card swipe fee law
The Merchants Payments Coalition, a group of retailers and businesses that supports the IFPA, released a report in March saying swipe fees reached a record-high $198.25 billion in 2025. “Credit card swipe fees make just about everything Americans buy more expensive,” MPC Executive Committee member and National Association of Convenience Stores General Counsel Doug Kantor said. “Swipe fees set a new record by taking more of our money every year and the impact on American families and small businesses is devastating. President Trump, lawmakers across the political spectrum, business groups, labor unions, consumer groups, Native American tribes and more are calling for bipartisan swipe fee reform. It’s time for Congress to make America affordable again by ending the swipe fee ripoff.”
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Convenience Store News: Retailer Group Opposes Increase in Debit Card Swipe Fees
The Merchants Payments Coalition and member trade associations urged the Senate Banking Committee to reject a proposal that would allow dozens of large banks to increase the fees they charge merchants to process debit card transactions, saying the move would lead to higher prices for consumers.
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Blusher: Banks Are Collecting Millions Daily in Swipe Fees as Gas Prices Climb, Report Says
As gasoline and diesel prices climb, banks are collecting significantly more in credit card “swipe” fees, with estimates reaching as high as $58 million per day. Data highlighted by the Merchants Payments Coalition shows that because these fees are calculated as a percentage of each transaction, higher fuel prices directly translate into larger revenues for card issuers.
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Merchants Oppose Letting Banks Increase Debit Card Swipe Fees as Consumers Face Affordability Challenges
MPC and member trade associations today urged the Senate Banking Committee to reject a proposal that would allow dozens of large banks to increase the fees they charge merchants to process debit card transactions, saying the move would mean higher prices for consumers.
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Progressive Grocer: Colorado Legislation to Regulate Swipe Fees for Card Networks
ccording to research cited by the Merchants Payment Coalition, swipe fees have jumped around 80% since the pandemic, with Visa and Mastercard setting prices over their 80% share of the market. With the passage of the Swipe Fee Fairness and Consumer Safeguards Act, Colorado hopes to up the competition by enabling banks with $100 billion in assets to issue cards from other unaffiliated networks. “This is landmark legislation that will save Colorado small businesses and their customers millions of dollars each year and keep that money in the local economy rather than sending off to out-of-state megabanks and global card networks,” commented MPC’s Doug Kantor.
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Capitol Account: OCC Lands in the Center of the Swipe Fee Wars
“The OCC has a long history of being wrong on national bank preemption,” says Doug Kantor, (MPC Executive Committee member and) general counsel for the National Association of Convenience Stores, which backs the interchange limits. In fact, he pointed out that Congress in the Dodd-Frank Act enacted several provisions designed to rein in the agency. "There seems to be an institutional problem at the OCC where they act more like an advocate for the banking industry than like the regulator,” Kantor opines.
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American Banker: Bitcoin's Overton window of opportunity is closing
Colorado would join Illinois in taking this stand against swipe fees on taxes. And the groups that are supporting this movement don't seem content with just two noncontiguous states. "Other states should take notice," said Doug Kantor, who is on the executive committee of the Merchants Payments Coalition and is general counsel for the National Association of Convenience Stores.
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Law360: OCC Rules Spur 7th Circ. Remand In Ill. Swipe-Fee Fight
A top official with the Merchants Payments Coalition said his organization is "pleased" Judge Kendall will now “have another chance to tell the OCC they are wrong.” "The OCC's approach of writing a regulation to overturn this law is just a desperate move to try to avoid the courts deciding this issue and it's not going to work," Doug Kantor, the coalition's executive committee member, said. "They have gone to extreme lengths to try to avoid having the court decide this in the normal course of business. Unfortunately, the OCC sees itself as an advocate for the banks rather than a regulator charged with protecting consumers, and that's a problem."
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