Digital Transactions: Merchants' Cost Burden for Card Acceptance Has Long Been Flat, a Card Industry Group Argues
But merchant advocates contend card acceptance remains a steadily rising cost burden in the aggregate for retail businesses. “Swipe fees have been exploding over the last several years. In fact, fees were $22 billion higher in 2022 than they were in 2021,” says Doug Kantor, general counsel for the National Association of Convenience Stores, long a critic of acceptance costs, in a statement sent to Digital Transactions News in reaction to the EPC’s data release. “To put that in perspective,” Kantor continues, “the total annual revenue of the National Football League is $19 billion. Just the increase in swipe fees was more than NFL revenue. The credit card industry can try to confuse things with misleading data, but their fee increases are huge and are hurting Main Street and American consumers.” Kantor is also a member of the executive committee of the Merchant Payments Coalition, an advocacy group.
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NACS Daily: Swipe Fees Could Cost Consumers Almost $800 Million This Mother's Day
Based on those numbers and the 2.24% average swipe fee for Visa and Mastercard credit cards, MPC estimates that $6.14 per shopper will go to banks and card networks rather than the merchant when customers pay by credit card. That’s the equivalent of two roses out of a typical 24-stem Mother’s Day bouquet where each flower costs about $3.
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Gifts and Decorative Accessories: Consumers Plan to Spend $35.7 Billion on Mother's Day, but $800 Million of That Might Go to Swipe Fees
“Everything from greeting cards and flowers to dining out and jewelry will cost more this Mother’s Day because swipe fees drive up prices,” said Doug Kantor, MPC’s executive committee member and National Association of Convenience Stores’ general counsel Doug Kantor. “Motherhood is a sacred institution to most Americans but for the credit card industry it’s just another opportunity take an inflated percentage of every sale.”
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Credit Card Fees Could Cost Consumers Almost $800 Million for Mother's Day
Rising “swipe” fees big banks and credit card networks charge merchants to process transactions could cost consumers nearly $800 million this Mother’s Day, MPC said.
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Credit Unions Today: Merchants Payments Group Says Record Profits at Banks Another Reason to Pass Credit Card Bill
The Merchants Payments Coalition is continuing its messaging around credit card swipe fees, saying the record first-quarter revenue and near-record profits at JPMorgan Chase, the nation’s largest credit card issuer, show the need for Congress to pass the Credit Card Competition Act.
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American Banker: Are Small Online Merchants Ready for Visa's New Fraud Rules?
MPC Executive Committee member Doug Kantor says a new Visa program that lets online merchants automatically reject “friendly fraud” chargebacks – but only if they can supply the customer’s IP address, device ID or fingerprint – is “small consolation for the bigger fraud burdens merchants carry and many of the unfair practices surrounding how the card networks assign liability.”
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Gifts and Decorative Accessories: Swipe Fees, Bank Profits Hit New Record Highs Again; Here's How That's Impacting Retailers and Consumers
The Merchants Payments Coalition (MPC) released a statement today again calling for Congress to pass the Credit Card Competition Act after record first-quarter revenue and near-record profits at JPMorgan Chase.
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Merchants Say Record JPMorgan Revenues Show Need to Address Swipe Fees
MPC says record first-quarter revenue and near-record profits at JPMorgan Chase, the nation’s largest credit card issuer, show the need for Congress to pass the Credit Card Competition Act.
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Lancaster (Ohio) Eagle-Gazette: Small Businesses Suffer the Worst Under High Credit Card 'Swipe' Fees
Smoke Stack Hobby Shop co-owner Patti Riordan says customers who know about high swipe fees sometimes offer cash. She cites MPC's estimate that swipe fees cost the average family over $1,000 a year in higher prices.
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Delaware State News: Credit Card Fees Are Swiping Away American Dream
During a recent Washington “fly-in” held by the Merchants Payments Coalition and the National Retail Federation, I was dumbfounded by lawmakers who said their concern was the “health and well-being” of banks rather than their own constituents.
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