American Banker: Banks Can Rest Easy on Durbin's Credit Card Swipe Fee Bill -- This Time
Part of the bill's newfound popularity on the Hill is growing scrutiny of the banking sector in the aftermath of high-profile bank failures earlier in the year, including Silicon Valley Bank, said Doug Kantor, general counsel for the National Association of Convenience Stores and a member of the Merchants Payments Coalition, which includes many retailers lobbying for the bill. "I think that's just reflective of a growing recognition that there are real problems with the way that credit card payments are happening now," Kantor said. "I think some of the banking difficulties earlier this year also remind people that trusting some of these banking institutions has not always worked well for us in the past. We need to sometimes take a look at what incentives they have or don't have, and how the system works."
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Green Sheet: AAHOA Joins Merchants Payments Coalition
“Swipe fees drive up costs for every business that accepts credit cards, and small businesses like independent and branded hotels are hit the hardest,” MPC Executive Committee member and National Association of Convenience Stores General Counsel Doug Kantor said. “AAHOA members know the impact of these rising fees on their businesses and their customers, and we’re glad to have them by our side. Along with our existing member associations, adding hotels helps show Congress the wide range of industries that are affected by swipe fees and the need to take action to bring competition to the broken swipe fee market.”
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Digital Transactions: Square Parent Block Slaps Mastercard and Visa with an Antitrust Suit Over Card Acceptance Costs
Organizations that have long battled the card networks over the costs of card acceptance welcomed Block’s action. “Swipe fees are far too high and clearly drive up prices for consumers because they’re too much for retailers to absorb, especially small businesses. The way they are set by Visa and Mastercard and then uniformly charged by all banks that issue cards under their brands is clearly a violation of antitrust law,” says Doug Kantor, general counsel for the National Association of Convenience Stores, in an email message. Kantor is also an executive committee member of the Merchants Payments Coalition, a group that lobbies on behalf of merchants on payments costs.
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AAHOA Joins Merchants Payments Coalition
MPC announced that the Asian American Hotel Owners Association has joined the coalition, adding to the ranks of merchant groups fighting for a competitive market for credit card “swipe” fees.
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American Bar Association: Will That be Cash or Credit? Swipe Fees and Their Critics
Doug Kantor, General Counsel of the National Association of Convenience Stores, speaks with Christina Ma and Matt Reynolds about the history of credit and debit card payment systems, the “swipe fees” on which those systems are built, and the justifications offered over the years for those fees.
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Scripps News: Are Credit Card Rewards at Risk? Congress Eyes Swipe Transactions
The Merchants Payments Coalition, a group in support of credit card reform, says credit card rewards would still exist if the legislation passes. Officials tell Scripps News that it is the bank that issues a card, not the networks that process transactions, that determine rewards. The Coalition also says Senator Durbin’s amendment regarding debit cards from several years ago has saved merchants over $100 billion in swipe fees since being adopted.
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The Messenger: New Jersey Lawmakers Crack Down on Merchants Surcharging Customers Who Pay With Credit Cards
The Merchants Payments Coalition, a group of retailers, supermarkets, restaurants, drug stores, convenience stores, gas stations, online merchants and other businesses, says (swipe) fees now cost the average family over $1,000 a year. Credit and debit card swipe fees have more than doubled over the past decade, it wrote on June 26, and soared last year by $22 billion to a record $160.7 billion. The coalition wrote that for most merchants, the fees are their highest operating cost after labor.
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Digital Transactions: It's Time for Congress to Dump the CCCA and Modify the Durbin Amendment, a Report Argues
The merchant lobby, on the other hand, see reports like the one from Cornerstone as a “rewrite” of history. “Moody’s reported in 2012 that merchants shielded their customers from higher prices due to debit reforms,” says Doug Kantor, general counsel at the National Association of Convenience Stores (and MPC Executive Committee member), in an email message to Digital Transactions News. “The data backs that up as merchant costs rose 9.4% in the years after debit reform but their prices to customers only went up 4.3%. In fact, grocery profit margins narrowed during those years.” Kantor also dismisses the argument that reduced income from cards will force banks to slash services associated with credit cards. “The American Bankers Association itself announced a few years after debit reform that ‘free checking’ had hit an all-time high. While banks reduced ‘free checking’ during the financial crisis they caused, that was before debit reform ever went into effect,” he notes.
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Progressive Grocer: Will Swipe Fee Reform Finally Get Passed?
According to the Merchants Payments Coalition, credit and debit card swipe fees cost the average household an estimated $1,024 in higher prices in 2022, the first time the number has topped the $1,000 mark. Now that’s something to be scared about, especially if you’re a grocer. That’s why Congress should act swiftly to pass credit card swipe fee reform.
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Retail Customer Experience: Card Swipe Fees May Impact Consumer Celebrations
Fourth of July is the most American of our national holidays but there is nothing American about fees that are set without competition," MPC Executive Committee member and National Association of Convenience Stores General Counsel Doug Kantor said.
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