Politico Influence: Merchants Tweak Visa Over Swipe Fees
The National Association for Convenience Stores, a member of the Merchant Payments Coalition of retailers, supermarkets, restaurants, drug stores and more that has pushed Congress to rein in card companies over so-called swipe fees, is funding a soccer-centric ad buy promoting legislation aimed at diluting the market dominance of just a few card companies.
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Supermarket News: Credit Card Swipe Fees Get a Swift 'Kick' in the Pants
The National Association for Convenience Stores (NACS) is taking to the airways in the latest move to pressure payments card processors Visa and Mastercard to allow additional networks to process bank card transactions. The group, a member of the Merchants Payments Coalition (MPC), just launched a new commercial nodding to Visa’s sponsorship of the FIFA World Cup — calling out the company for refusing to allow competition over swipe fees.
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Digital Transactions: Backed by a Merchant Group, a TV Ad Pushes the Case for Controlling Credit Card Costs
The 30-second commercial, which lays heavy emphasis on how Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. frustrate “free-market competition” by setting credit card interchange rates, shows a player kicking a soccer ball toward a net to score a goal, only to have the ball blocked by an oversized credit card. The ad is sponsored by the National Association of Convenience Stores and backed by the Merchants Payments Coalition, an advocacy group that has long lobbied against what it views as non-competitive setting of credit card acceptance rates by the two global networks.
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NACS Daily: TV Ad Blows the Whistle on Swipe Fees During World Cup
“Visa is spending untold millions of dollars to promote competition in soccer even though it refuses to allow competition over swipe fees and how transactions are routed,” said Doug Kantor, NACS general counsel and Merchants Payments Coalition executive committee member. “Visa says it wants to ‘give football fans from around the world the best way to pay,’ but it should start by allowing competition over the hidden fees that are charged every time soccer fans and other consumers use a credit card. If competition is good on the soccer field, it’s good on the swipe fee playing field as well.”
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TV Ad Targets Visa's Promotion of Competition at World Cup While Blocking Competition Over Swipe Fees
The Merchants Payments Coalition unveiled a new TV commercial that takes aim at Visa’s sponsorship of the FIFA World Cup while refusing to allow competition over billions of dollars in “swipe” fees that drive up prices for consumers.
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Supermarket News: Retailers Press Hard for Credit Card Processing Reform
In the latest salvo in the battle between over transaction pricing between retailer organizations and payment card processors Visa and Mastercard, the Merchants Payments Coalition (MPC) is now asking lawmakers to pass legislation that would allow additional payment networks to process bank card transactions — a move the MPC hopes will create competition and potentially lower the pain of credit card swipe fees.
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Credit Unions Today: While CUs Express Strong Opposition, Nearly 2,000 Merchants Sign Letter Supporting Credit Card Competition Act
The nearly 2,000 merchants are all signatories on a letter that was sent by the Merchants Payments Coalition (MPC) to Congress. The letter argues the bill will bring “long-sought competition to credit card swipe fees that drive up costs for consumers.”
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Convenience Store News: Retailers Continue to Push for Passage of Credit Card Competition Act
"Support for swipe fee competition is quickly building and this letter from a broad cross section of merchants is proof," said Doug Kantor, Merchants Payments Coalition Executive Committee member and NACS general counsel.
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CSP Daily News: 1,800 Merchants Sign On to Latest Swipe Fee Battle
As Congress heads into its lame-duck session, more than 1,800 merchants from across the country called on lawmakers this week to pass legislation that would bring long-sought competition to credit-card swipe fees, according to the Merchants Payments Coalition.
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NACS Daily: Over 1,800 Merchants Ask Congress to Support Credit Card Competition Act
In a letter sent by the Merchants Payments Coalition to all members of the House and Senate, merchants asked lawmakers to support the Credit Card Competition Act sponsored by Senators Richard Durbin, D-Ill., and Roger Marshall, R-Kan., and Representatives Peter Welch, D-Vt., and Lance Gooden, R-Texas.
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