Bloomberg Law: Illinois Credit Card Swipe Fee Law Sparks Legal Fight With Banks
The law comes amid a decades-long fight pitting retailers like Walmart Inc., Target Corp., and Amazon.com Inc. against banks over interchange fees that credit card issuers charge to process transactions. Credit card swipe fees imposed by Visa and Mastercard alone topped $100 billion in 2023, according to the Merchants Payments Coalition.
READ MORE +Credit Unions Today: In Survey Sponsored by Merchants Group, Americans Express Support for Credit Card Competition Act
The Merchants Payments Coalition, which conducted the survey, said it found both Democrats and Republicans are more likely to support Senate candidates who back the measure, according to a new survey released today by the Merchants Payments Coalition. “These results are clear: Americans by huge margins want Congress to do something about out-of-control credit card swipe fees that are driving up costs for small businesses and prices for consumers,” MPC Executive Committee member and National Association of Convenience Stores General Counsel Doug Kantor said.
READ MORE +Convenience Store News: Airport Restaurants & Retailers Join Forces With Merchants Payments Coalition
The Merchants Payments Coalition is growing its contingent of groups pushing for lasting change to the payments market, with the Airport Restaurant and Retail Association joining the coalition.
READ MORE +MPC Hill Blast: Facts Get in the Way
The giant Wall Street Banks fund a lot of groups. One of them is the Bank Policy Institute (whose Board includes the CEOs of JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citi, and Wells Fargo, among others).
READ MORE +MPC Hill Blast: The Rest of the Story
With a nod to the late Paul Harvey, The Capitol Forum has given us the hidden background on the big banks’ misdirection on credit card rewards.
READ MORE +Mass Market Retailers: Credit card ‘swipe’ fees to account for nearly $3 billion of back-to-school costs in 2024
“The impact of swipe fees on the cost of school supplies reinforces the lesson taught in every high school and college economics class: lack of competition leads to higher prices,” MPC Executive Committee member and National Grocers Association Chief Government Relations Officer and Counsel Christopher Jones said. “Swipe fees make it more expensive for families to send their children to school whether it’s crayons in elementary school or dorm supplies in college. It doesn’t take a degree in economics to see that it’s time for Congress to fix this broken market by passing the Credit Card Competition Act.”
READ MORE +Chain Drug Review: Credit card ‘swipe’ fees to account for nearly $3 billion of 2024 back-to-school costs
Swipe fees banks charge merchants to process credit card transactions will drive up the price of school and college supplies by almost $3 billion this year and cost the average family between $20 and $30, the Merchants Payments Coalition said.
READ MORE +Credit Card ‘Swipe’ Fees to Account for Nearly $3 Billion of 2024 Back-to-School Costs
“Swipe” fees banks charge merchants to process credit card transactions will drive up the price of school and college supplies by almost $3 billion this year and cost the average family between $20 and $30, MPC said.
READ MORE +Convenience Store News: Majority of Voters Support Federal Action on Credit Card Fees
"These results are clear: Americans by huge margins want Congress to do something about out-of-control credit card swipe fees that are driving up costs for small businesses and prices for consumers," MPC Executive Committee member and NACS General Counsel Doug Kantor said. "These fees have an impact on families across every sector of our society and virtually everyone wants competition to fix this broken market."
READ MORE +Digital Transactions: In Other News
The Merchants Payments Coalition released a survey that found 55% of likely voters in this fall’s general election support the Credit Card Competition Act while only 7% oppose it, and 38% are unsure. The survey also found 42% of voters are more likely to support a Senate candidate who supports the bill, with only 7% less likely to do so, a margin of 35 percentage points.
READ MORE +