Merchants Call Credit Card 'Swipe' Fees Biggest Bank Scam
Credit and debit card “swipe” fees are among the issues Congress should examine as lawmakers look into banking scams, MPC said.
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Digital Transactions: 20 Years of Payments Coverage
The CFPB isn’t the only regulatory agency turning up the heat. The Department of Justice has opened its own probe of Visa Inc.’s and Mastercard Inc.’s debit card practices. Even Congress is getting in on the act with the re-introduction of the Credit Card Competition Act, which takes aim at lowering credit card swipe fees by giving merchants a choice of network, other than Visa and Mastercard, over which to route credit card transactions. “Regulatory enforcement has clearly been picking up,” says Doug Kantor, an executive committee member at the Merchants Payments Coalition and general counsel for the National Association of Convenience Stores. One area where Kantor sees regulators turning their attention lies in anti-trust issues, which means large companies. “There is a growing concern in general in government about large companies,” says Kantor. “As more scrutiny comes, there will have to be changes to the way the payments industry operates.”
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Convenience Store News: Federal Reserve Extends Comment Period for Debit Card Swipe Fee Changes
Numerous retail groups, including the National Retail Federation (NRF), the Retail Industry Leaders Association and the Merchants Payments Coalition, applauded the proposal (to lower debit card swipe fees) but raised concerns that the revisions do not go far enough, as Convenience Store News previously reported. "This is a significant reduction that will save money for retailers and their customers, and we welcome the progress that has been made," said NRF Chief Administrative Officer and General Counsel (and MPC Executive Committee member) Stephanie Martz. "Nonetheless, it still doesn't get to the 'reasonable' level Congress sought and it isn't proportional to banks' falling costs."
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Trade Groups Back Law to Tackle Credit Card Swipe Fees
In an open letter sent last week, trade groups like the National Retail Federation, the Merchants Payments Coalition and the National Small Business Association again threw their weight behind the bipartisan and bicameral Credit Card Competition Act, sponsored by Senators Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) and Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) and Representatives Lance Gooden (R-Tex.) and Zoe Lofgren (D-Ca.).
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Merchants Say Record JPMorgan Chase Profits Show Need to Pass Credit Card Competition Act
Record annual profits reported last week by the nation’s largest credit card issuer are the latest evidence of the need to bring soaring credit card swipe fees under control, the Merchants Payments Coalition said.
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NACS Daily: Thousands of Companies Call on Congress to Fix Swipe Fees
Almost 2,000 companies and nearly 300 trade associations called on Congress to pass the Credit Card Competition Act as lawmakers returned to Washington this week, the Merchants Payments Coalition said.
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Digital Transactions: Merchants Nudge Congress to Vote on the CCCA as Members Reconvene for 2024
he battle between merchants, on one hand, and financial institutions and payment networks, on the other, over the Credit Card Competition Act continues to heat up. The Merchants Payments Coalition on Thursday sent a letter to Congress signed by nearly 2,000 merchants, including hundreds of small businesses, calling on legislators to pass the CCCA. The latest move follows a similar letter sent to Congress Wednesday from 291 merchant trade associations from every state and Puerto Rico.
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Convenience Store News: Trade Groups and Companies Unite in Call for Swipe Fee Changes
Almost 2,000 companies and nearly 300 trade associations organized through the Merchants Payments Coalition called on Congress to pass the Credit Card Competition Act as lawmakers returned to Washington, D.C., this week.
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Nearly 2,000 Companies and Almost 300 Trade Associations Call on Congress to Address Credit Card 'Swipe' Fees
Almost 2,000 companies and nearly 300 trade associations called on Congress to pass the Credit Card Competition Act as lawmakers returned to Washington this week, MPC said.
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Digital Transactions: The Payments Lobby Cites Harm in Its New Advertising Salvo Against the CCCA
Doug Kantor, an executive committee member at the Merchants Payments Coalition and general counsel for the National Association of Convenience Stores, questions the potential effectiveness the EPC’s ad campaign will have in swaying lawmakers. Legislators, he says, would have to buy into what he claims is misleading and false information the EPC has put out about the CCCA. “The EPC has repeatedly run ads [opposing the CCCA] that are false, and this is more of the same,” Kantor says. In response to opponents, Kantor argues it is association executives, not necessarily association members, who are against the CCCA. “When you talk to members directly about the CCCA, the results are mixed,” Kantor says. In addition, Kantor adds that arguments that small banks and credit unions would be harmed by passage of the CCCA are moot. “No community bank or any bank in Kansas meets the $100-billion-in-assets threshold that would require card issuers to offer a choice of networks, and only one credit union does,” Kantor says. “This is more of the same misleading talk about the entities that would not be regulated by the CCCA.”
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