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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HBS Dealer: Visa hit with DOJ lawsuit
“This is further evidence that Visa has regularly blocked competition in the debit card market,” MPC Executive Committee member and National Association of Convenience Stores General Counsel Doug Kantor said. “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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Chain Store Age: Department of Justice sues Visa for alleged debit payment monopoly
In an official statement, Merchants Payment Coalition executive committee member and National Association of Convenience Stores general counsel Doug Kantor said this suit is evidence that Visa has been blocking 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," Kantor said in the statement. "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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Payments Dive: DOJ suit accuses Visa of illegal debit payment monopoly
The Merchants Payments Coalition, a group of merchants, including retailers, convenience stores and supermarkets, said it welcomed the lawsuit. “This is further evidence that Visa has regularly blocked competition in the debit card market,” said Doug Kantor, an executive committee member of the coalition, and the general counsel for the National Association of Convenience Stores. “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.”
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CSP Daily News: Justice Department Sues Visa for Monopolizing Debit Markets
The Merchants Payments Coalition (MPC) welcomed lawsuit against Visa. “This is further evidence that Visa has regularly blocked competition in the debit card market,” MPC Executive Committee member and National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) General Counsel Doug Kantor said. “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: 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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MPC Radio Ad: Senator Marshall says CCCA Will 'End the Grip Visa and Mastercard Have on Us'
Senator Roger Marshall says, "Every time you use your credit card, they charge you a hidden fee called a swipe fee, and they've been raising it without even telling you." The Credit Card Competition Act "would help end the grip Visa and Mastercard have on us" but "I need your help to get this passed. I'm asking you to call your Senators today and demand they pass the Credit Card Competition Act."
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Politico Morning Money: Marshall’s swipe fee ad
Doug Kantor, an executive committee member of the Merchants Payments Coalition, said in a statement: “We’re pleased to see that Sen. Marshall is supporting his own bill. There’s nothing unusual or different about that. There’s hundreds of members of our coalition and they support lots of members of Congress. There’s nothing unusual about that either.”
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American Banker: The politics of payment fees: Harris, Trump and the future of interchang
Both the Biden and Trump administrations were relatively aggressive on antitrust issues, according to Doug Kantor, a member of the Merchant Payments Coalition executive committee and general counsel at the National Association of Convenience Stores, noting the regulatory pressure on Visa's attempted acquisition of Plaid that spanned both administrations and resulted in the deal being scuttled in 2021. And President Joe Biden has pushed for greater scrutiny of bank mergers and acquisitions, a bent toward antitrust that could spell greater pressure on card fees under a Harris administration, according to Kantor. "With the Democrats, there is a willingness to look hard at consolidation in payments," Kantor said of the concentration of power in the payments industry.
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Payments Dive: Credit Card Competition bill backers keep pressure on
The latest Marshall spot, reported earlier this week by the Washington outlet Punchbowl News, is part of a larger MPC advertising campaign promoting the bill, said Doug Kantor, an executive committee member for the Merchants Payments Coalition. “We’re always on a crusade to get it passed — if they were to vote on it today, we’re ready,” Kantor said in an interview Thursday.
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