NerdWallet: What to Expect if the Credit Card Competition Act Passes
“Swipe fees are the second-highest operating cost, on average, for these businesses. Only labor is a higher cost,” says Doug Kantor, general counsel of the National Association of Convenience Stores (and MPC Executive Committee member). “A big piece of that is that the fees automatically rise with inflation. As we see inflation in the economy, merchants’ costs go up. Convenience store owners are left chasing their tails to try to maintain some profitability with these rapidly rising fees.”
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NerdWallet: Is Congress Going to Kill Credit Card Rewards?
“Swipe fees that drive up costs for small merchants and prices for American families are already the highest in the industrialized world," said Doug Kantor, an executive committee member of the Merchants Payments Coalition, in a June 2023 statement. "This carefully crafted bill will lead to lower fees and better security while helping merchants hold down prices."
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CardRates.com: How Issuers Can Adapt to The Emerging Threat of Stablecoins
The appeal of cheaper transactions is compelling: Credit and debit card swipe fees amounted to a record $187.2 billion in 2024, according to the Merchants Payments Coalition. If stablecoins offer a path to faster, more affordable settlement for merchants, that is very attractive indeed.
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MPC Hill Blast: Visa and Mastercard are Threatening to Dominate Stablecoins and Undermine the Innovations That Technology Could Make
Congress passed the GENIUS Act to regulate stablecoins and open the door to the innovation that technology could provide. But that is already under threat – from Visa and Mastercard.
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CardRates.com: A Judge’s Debit Card Ruling May Shape Credit Card Issuer Strategies Moving Forward
The Merchant Payments Coalition represents businesses and other stakeholders that seek a card system that is more competitive and fair to both consumers and merchants. Doug Kantor, Executive Committee Member of the coalition and General Counsel for the National Association of Convenience Stores, called the ruling a “well-reasoned decision” in a press release from the Merchant Payments Coalition responding to Traynor’s action. “This case shows that banks have swiped a windfall of billions of dollars per year in debit fees from Main Street that go far beyond normal, competitive profit margins,” Kantor said. “The Federal Reserve should quickly rewrite its rules to cure this problem and reduce the inflationary pressure these fees impose on the entire U.S. economy.”
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Retail Insight Network: Trump’s order confronts banking policies affecting retail
The Merchants Payments Coalition, representing small retailers, supermarkets and convenience stores, commended the order for promoting unbiased banking access. Its members say that when banks restrict services—particularly in payment processing—it hampers innovation and inflates costs for retailers, especially smaller operations.
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Merchants Applaud Trump Action on Banking Industry’s Bad Practices
MPC welcomed President Donald Trump’s executive order intended to keep banks from discriminating on political grounds, one of many ways that banks harm everyday Americans.
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Digital Transactions: Back to the Drawing Board on Debit Rates: Sorting Out Winners and Losers
“That proposal didn’t correct the original mistake, which was looking at the entire cost structure of debit acceptance, not just the actual cost per transaction,” says Doug Kantor, an executive committee member at the Merchants Payment Council and general counsel for the National Association of Convenience Stores. “[Traynor’s] ruling also supersedes the Fed’s 2023 proposal.”
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PPC Land: Trump signs executive order targeting banking industry discrimination
The Merchants Payments Coalition welcomed the announcement, with member Doug Kantor from the National Association of Convenience Stores stating that "Big banks and credit card companies not only discriminate against conservatives, they mistreat new financial technology companies, cryptocurrency businesses and Main Street businesses." Kantor emphasized how these practices inflate prices while preventing innovation, particularly harming small businesses and consumers who can least afford the impact.
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Hardware Retailing: Credit Card Swipe Fee Ruling Overturned
“We are glad to see this well-reasoned decision,” says Doug Kantor, MPC executive committee member and national association of convenience stores general counsel. “This case shows that banks have swiped a windfall of billions of dollars per year in debit fees from Main Street that go far beyond normal, competitive profit margins. The Federal Reserve should quickly rewrite its rules to cure this problem and reduce the inflationary pressure these fees impose on the entire US economy.”
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