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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Convenience Store News: Retailers Applaud U.S. District Court's Ruling on Debit Card Swipe Fees
The Merchants Payments Coalition (MPC) welcomed the ruling and urged the Fed to take quick action. "We are glad to see this well-reasoned decision," said Doug Kantor, MPC executive committee member and NACS 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 U.S. economy."
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Merchants Welcome Court Ruling on Debit Card Swipe Fees
MPC welcomed a federal judge’s ruling overturning the Federal Reserve’s 2011 regulated rate for debit card “swipe” fees on the grounds that it was set higher than intended by Congress.
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American Banker: Court vacates Fed interchange rule, dealing blow to banks
Merchants and retailers, meanwhile, were elated by the ruling. Doug Kantor, general counsel of the National Association of Convenience stores (and MPC Executive Committee member), said the decision will bring better balance to the payments processing space. "We are glad to see this well-reasoned decision," Kantor said in a prepared statement. "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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Athletech News: Swipe Fees, Crypto & Improvements From Mastercard
The MPC survey showed that 71 percent of respondents said lower credit card swipe fees “would be ‘a good thing,’” compared with only 16 percent who disagreed. The survey found that twice as many people (48 percent) believe “‘more competition in the credit card market’ would decrease swipe fees for merchants and consumers alike than believe the opposite (24 percent),” the MPC said in a statement.
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MPC Hill Blast: Credit Card Swipe Fees are the Top ‘Scam’ That People Accept as ‘Normal’
What's the No. 1 everyday scam that is so “normalized” that people just “accept” it? That’s right – it’s credit card swipe fees.
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Marketplace: Crypto firms want stablecoins to be the new credit cards
Businesses can either pass on that fee to their customers or just eat it. Which is why the National Retail Federation’s Stephanie Martz (an MPC Executive Committee member) is excited about stablecoins. “This would be much needed competition for the traditional credit card market,” she said. Retailers paid $187 billion in swipe fees last year, mostly to Visa and Mastercard, which have been long criticized as having a duopoly on payment systems. “Our strong hope and expectation is that this would finally result in credit card and debit card swipe fees going down,” Martz said.
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Bilyonaryo: Will stablecoins become everyday money?
Visa and Mastercard combined collected around $187 billion in fees on card purchases in the United States last year, according to the Merchant Payments Coalition. Conducting sales in stablecoins bypasses banks or payment systems, reducing transaction costs.
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Gifts and Decorative Accessories: Could Lower Swipe Fees Help Offset Rising Costs of Goods?
According to a survey by the Merchants Payments Coalition, the vast majority of consumers favor lower credit card “swipe” fees, and those surveyed believe two-to-one that the Credit Card Competition Act would achieve that goal. “Consumers are tired of paying higher prices because of soaring swipe fees that transfer billions of dollars from Main Street to Wall Street each year,” MPC Executive Committee member and National Association of Convenience Stores General Counsel Doug Kantor said. “These survey results show Americans want Congress to fix the broken U.S. payments system and that they aren’t falling for banks’ propaganda about why that can’t be done.”
READ MORE +MPC Hill Blast: Chef Andrew Gruel on How Swipe Fees Are Plaguing Restaurants
Chef Andrew Gruel gives candid thoughts on the credit card swipe fees that are plaguing restaurants around the nation.
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