MiBolsillo: Americans Pay $158,000 Million in Card Service Fees Alone
According to the latest financial data published by the Nilson Report and amplified by the Merchants Payments Coalition, the sheer scale of this extraction is staggering, with credit card process fees soaring to nearly $158 billion during the 2025 fiscal year, prompting urgent scrutiny of industry giants like Visa and Mastercard.
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Restaurant Business: When times are tough, little things matter
Last year, according to the Merchants Payments Coalition, those fees averaged 2.36% of the transaction amount, up from 2.02% in 2010. While that might not sound like much, it simply adds to the nickeling and diming of the industry.
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MPC Hill Blast: MPC Hill Blast: Big Bank CEOs Get Richer While Grocery, Gas, Electric Prices Go Up
As summer begins, Americans across the country are struggling with rising grocery prices, gas well above $4 per gallon and electric costs at all-time highs. Big bank CEOs, however, aren’t exactly feeling that pain. In fact, the American Banker just reported that “Seven of the largest banks in the nation — JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citi, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Capital One Financial — significantly increased their CEOs' pay packages for 2025.”
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The Queen Zone: 12 key insights on payment methods and credit card fees
Retailer groups have pushed this issue hard because the dollar amounts are huge. The Merchants Payments Coalition said credit and debit card swipe fees reached $187.2 billion in 2024, up from $172 billion in 2023.
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Restaurant Business: Where to from here on the swipe fee battle?
In this week’s Working Lunch, Joe Kefauver and Franklin Coley of Align Public Strategies speak with Dan Swanson, counsel to the Merchants Payment Coalition, about the recent court decision and state-level veto in the long-running feud with banks and credit card companies about swipe fees. Swanson will explain what happened and why, and where the restaurant industry can go from here.
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Decatur (Ill.) Radio: Merchants Poll: Americans Want Swipe Fees Reduced
A new poll from the Merchants Payment Coalition finds strong voter support for congressional action on credit and debit card swipe fees. The survey says 75% of likely voters want lawmakers to reduce electronic processing fees charged on card transactions. The results arrive as state-level efforts face setbacks. A federal judge recently blocked Illinois’ Interchange Fee Prohibition Act, which would bar processing fees on the tax and tip portions of purchases.
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Springfield (Mass.) Republican: Judge OKs $38B deal to cut credit card fees despite retailer opposition
“The vast majority of merchants oppose this proposed settlement. We expect many more objections to be filed and to present the court with the profound problems the settlement would bring to the broken credit card market,” NACS (General Counsel and MPC Executive Committee member Doug Kantor) said. “Based on that, we are hopeful that the Judge will refuse to grant final approval and that merchants will have their day in court.”
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U.S. News and World Report: What the Visa, Mastercard Settlement Means for Your Favorite Rewards Credit Card
Doug Kantor, Merchants Payments Coalition executive committee member and National Association of Convenience Stores general counsel, says he's not convinced the settlement in its current form will have any meaningful change at the consumer level – for better or worse. "They will still be paying huge hidden fees," he says. "It won't change their experience in stores at all."
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Detroit Free Press: I really, really don't like extra fees: Why I'm watching my cash
Why are retailers more willing to gamble on offending a customer by slapping on a surcharge? "They're using them because they're desperate," said Doug Kantor, general counsel for the National Association of Convenience Stores, based in Alexandria, Virginia (and MPC Executive Committee member). ... "Many businesses just can't take it any longer and so they don't know what else to do."
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Credit Union Daily: Merchants Payments Group Says New Survey Shows Consumers Say Swipe Fees are Driving Up Costs
A new poll commissioned by the Merchants Payments Coalition –which stands opposite credit unions on the issue of card interchange-found that a large majority of voters believe credit card swipe fees contribute to higher consumer prices and support congressional action to reduce those fees, according to the organization.
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