Restaurant Business: Justice Department adds muscle to restaurants' fight to temper credit-card swipe fees
“This is further evidence that Visa has regularly blocked competition in the debit card market,” said Doug Kantor, general counsel for the National Association of Convenience Stores and a leader of a cross-industry advocacy group called the Merchant Payments Coalition. The National Restaurant Association is a member of the coalition. “While this case is focused on debit cards, it shows how we desperately need competition over credit card swipe fees, which currently face no competition at all,” Kantor continued in his statement.
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Politico Influence: Swipe Fee Foes Double Down
The Merchants Payments Coalition, which represents retailers, proclaimed that the suit, while focused on debit cards, “shows how we desperately need competition over credit card swipe fees, which currently face no competition at all,” according to spokesperson Doug Kantor.
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MPC Hill Blast: The DOJ has sued Visa for antitrust law violations on debit cards
The Department of Justice has sued Visa for antitrust law violations on debit cards.
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Progressive Grocer: Justice Department Files Suit Against Visa Over Debit Card Practices
Multiple industry associations applauded the DOJ's actions, including the Merchants Payments Coalition, the National Retail Federation and the Retail Industry Leaders Association. "This is further evidence that Visa has regularly blocked competition in the debit card market," said Doug Kantor, MPC executive committee member and NACS general counsel. "Visa has relentlessly flouted the law to maintain a monopoly over setting fees for transactions made with cards issued under its brand and for processing those transactions. While this case is focused on debit cards, it shows how we desperately need competition over credit card swipe fees, which currently face no competition at all."
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Digital Transactions: Combatants Take Up Their Positions in Reaction to the DoJ’s Antitrust Suit Against Visa
The Merchants Payments Coalition also came out in support of the lawsuit, arguing that it is a response to Visa’s ongoing efforts to block competition in the debit card market. “Visa has relentlessly flouted the law to maintain a monopoly over setting fees for transactions made with cards issued under its brand and for processing those transactions,” Doug Kantor, an MPC executive committee member and general counsel for the National Association of Convenience Stores, said in a statement. While the MPC applauded the DoJ’s efforts to rein in Visa’s alleged control over the debit card industry. Kantor added that further competition is needed when it comes to credit card swipe fees “which currently face no competition at all.”
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Politico: Biden DOJ slaps Visa with antitrust suit over debit card dominance
Retail groups including the National Retail Federation and the Merchant Payments Coalition, which have long pushed for action curbing Visa and MasterCard, also lauded the case.
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The U.S. Sun: DEBIT DOWNER Visa accused of causing higher prices for customers with ‘illegal’ monopoly in shock DOJ lawsuit
The Merchants Payments Coalition welcomed the DOJ lawsuit on Tuesday, accusing Visa of having “relentlessly flouted the law to maintain a monopoly over setting fees for transactions made with cards issued under its brand.” MPC executive Doug Kantor said the lawsuit showed how “we desperately need competition over credit card swipe fees, which currently face no competition at all.”
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NPR All Things Considered: Justice Department accuses Visa of stifling competition in the debit card business
"You can mandate competition," says Stephanie Martz, chief administrative officer and general counsel for the National Retail Federation (and MPC Executive Committee member). "But if what's happening behind the point-of-sale is inhibiting that, then you don't actually have competition."
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Merchants Welcome DOJ Lawsuit Alleging Visa Debit Card Practices Violate Federal Antitrust Law
The Merchants Payments Coalition welcomed the announcement that the U.S. Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against Visa alleging that some of its debit card practices are anticompetitive and violate federal antitrust law.
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Digital Transactions: The Justice Department May Haul Visa Into Court Over Debit Card Issues
The DoJ reviewed a “tremendous amount” of documents in the Plaid case, according to Doug Kantor, general counsel for Arlington, Va.-based National Association of Convenience Stores (and MPC Executive Committee member), a frequent opponent of the payment networks on interchange and related payment card acceptance issues. “It’s very likely the material taught them some things about Visa’s actions in the debit market,” Kantor tells Digital Transactions News. “A lot of those would raise concerns for any antitrust lawyer.” Asked about specifics, Kantor says, “We know from a merchant’s point of view Visa has employed tricks and traps for any competitor” to capture transaction volume. “It is clear over time that Visa’s actions, even when they’re cloaked in things like security, are really about protecting market share rather than those other things.”
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