In The News

Convenience Store News: Industry Groups React to Proposed Debit Swipe Fee Changes

Merchants Tell Fed Debit Card Swipe Fees Should Be Competitive

MPC told the Federal Reserve that a proposed reduction in high “swipe” fees large banks charge merchants to process debit card transactions is welcome but still provides banks with huge profit margins that no competitive business in the nation could charge.

Washington Times: Bill aimed at reducing credit-card ‘swipe fees’ puts Chinese company in crosshairs

“If UnionPay is writing the standards, they may be able to work things so they have access to data, or they can do things none of us want them to do. We don’t even have transparency in EMVCo. What is China pushing for?” said Doug Kantor, general counsel at the National Association of Convenience Stores (and MPC Executive Committee member). Swipe fees reached a record $172 billion last year, costing families an average of $1,000, according to data from the Merchants Payment Coalition, which supports the legislation.

Mass Market Retailers: MPC seeks changes to ‘swipe’ fees proposal

The Merchants Payments Coalition, a group lobbying for “a more competitive and transparent” payment-card system,” is asking the Federal Reserve to further modify its proposed cap on the “swipe” fees merchants pay banks to process the transactions. In a letter to the Fed’s Board of Governors, the MPC said alterations proposed by the Fed last fall, while welcome, don’t go far enough in limiting the “huge profit margins” reaped by large banks for processing credit-card and debit-card payments.

Decatur Tribune: Merchants Agree With Durbin That Banks and Airlines Are Undermining Credit Card Rewards

The Merchants Payments Coalition today agreed with Senator Richard Durbin that airline industry practices are the biggest threat to credit card rewards and that more competition would help consumers earn better benefits and savings. “Senator Durbin is right: banks and airlines are taking away peoples’ rewards by devaluing them and making them hard to use,” MPC Executive Committee member and National Association of Convenience Stores General Counsel Doug Kantor said. “If they had more competitors pushing them to do the right thing, consumers would be treated better. Just 10 banks have more than 80 percent of the Visa and Mastercard credit card market and they all charge the same centrally fixed prices. Competition keeps businesses honest in what they offer their customers, and the lack of competition is the core of the problem that Senator Durbin pointed out.”

Merchants Agree With Durbin That Banks and Airlines Are Undermining Credit Card Rewards

MPC agreed with Senator Richard Durbin that airline industry practices are the biggest threat to credit card rewards and that more competition would help consumers earn better benefits and savings.

Finance Magnates: The Price of Plastic: Why a Small Fee Fight Could Reshape Your Wallet

The Merchants Payments Coalition has emerged as the David in this financial Goliath battle. They argue that the lack of competition in the credit card network allows Visa and Mastercard to dictate swipe fees with impunity. The CCCA, their proposed weapon, aims to level the playing field. Here's the plan: by forcing large banks to allow transactions to be routed through competing networks like NYCE or Discover, the CCCA hopes to ignite a spark of competition. This, in turn, could lead to a domino effect, with lower swipe fees trickling down to both businesses and consumers.

NACS Daily: C-Stores Celebrate Mother’s Day With Deals

"Families are trying to give mothers a special day, but the credit card industry sees Mother's Day as just another chance to dig into consumers' pockets with hidden fees. It's time for Congress to stand up for moms by passing the Credit Card Competition Act," said MPC Executive Committee member and NACS Senior Vice President of Government Relations Lyle Beckwith in a press release.

Payments Dive: CFPB, DOT take aim at airline rewards

“Banks and airlines are taking away peoples’ rewards by devaluing them and making them hard to use,” MPC Executive Committee member Doug Kantor said in the release. “If they had more competitors pushing them to do the right thing, consumers would be treated better.”

Chain Drug Review: Retailers back Marshall call to pass credit card ‘swipe’ fee legislation

The Merchants Payments Coalition welcomed Senator Roger Marshall’s call for Congress to pass the Credit Card Competition Act. “Back home, I’ve crisscrossed Kansas, meeting with small business owners across the state,” Marshall said. “And in every meeting, they look me in the eye, and they say they need some type of relief.