Credit Card ‘Swipe’ Fees Could Cost Consumers Nearly $578 Million on Valentine’s Day
Rising swipe fees banks charge merchants to process credit and debit card transactions could cost consumers almost $578 million in higher prices as they celebrate Valentine’s Day this year, MPC said.
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Credit Unions Today: Featuring a Consumer Getting Punched Again & Again, Merchants Launch TV Ad in Support of Credit Card Bill
A new TV commercial has been unveiled by the Merchants Payments Coalition that argues banks are “taking a swipe” at consumers with credit card swipe fees that cost the average family over $1,000 a year.
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Digital Transactions: More Salvos Emerge in the Battle Over a Credit Card Networking Bill
Late Monday, the Merchants Payments Coalition fired the latest salvo in its campaign to pass the CCCA, a television commercial that literally shows a consumer getting punched hard in the face by a character representing big banks each time he makes a credit card transaction. The “slap,” as the commercial describes the blow, is meant to metaphorically represents the painful cost of credit card fees to consumers and merchants.
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TV Ad Says Swipe Fees Are ‘Taking a Swipe’ at Consumers
Big banks are “taking a swipe” at consumers with credit card swipe fees that cost the average family over $1,000 a year, according to a new TV commercial unveiled by MPC.
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Payments Dive: Why ‘Pay-By-Bank’ Faces Adoption Hurdles In U.S. Retail
“Real-time payments ought to be available at the point of sale — it’s just a matter of banks allowing that to happen,” said Doug Kantor, general counsel of the National Association of Convenience Stores and an executive committee member at the Merchants Payments Coalition.
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MPC TV Commercial: Credit Card Swipe Fees Are a Punch in the Face
“Ever get the feeling big banks are taking a swipe at you?” a new Merchants Payments Coalition TV ad asks. “They are. Every time you swipe your credit card banks make big money, charging you up to 3% in hidden fees.”
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Southern Jewelry News: Merchants Call Credit Card 'Swipe Fees' Biggest Bank Scam
Credit and debit card “swipe” fees are among the issues Congress should examine as lawmakers look into banking scams, the Merchants Payments Coalition said today. “There are many banking scams, but swipe fees are the biggest scam of all,” MPC Executive Committee member and National Association of Convenience Stores Senior Vice President of Government Relations Lyle Beckwith said. “Everyone pays higher prices because of swipe fees regardless of whether they use a credit card or not, but they don’t even know it. Taking $1,000 from every American family each year without them knowing it is a huge hidden scam.”
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Merchants Call Credit Card 'Swipe' Fees Biggest Bank Scam
Credit and debit card “swipe” fees are among the issues Congress should examine as lawmakers look into banking scams, MPC said.
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Digital Transactions: 20 Years of Payments Coverage
The CFPB isn’t the only regulatory agency turning up the heat. The Department of Justice has opened its own probe of Visa Inc.’s and Mastercard Inc.’s debit card practices. Even Congress is getting in on the act with the re-introduction of the Credit Card Competition Act, which takes aim at lowering credit card swipe fees by giving merchants a choice of network, other than Visa and Mastercard, over which to route credit card transactions. “Regulatory enforcement has clearly been picking up,” says Doug Kantor, an executive committee member at the Merchants Payments Coalition and general counsel for the National Association of Convenience Stores. One area where Kantor sees regulators turning their attention lies in anti-trust issues, which means large companies. “There is a growing concern in general in government about large companies,” says Kantor. “As more scrutiny comes, there will have to be changes to the way the payments industry operates.”
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Convenience Store News: Federal Reserve Extends Comment Period for Debit Card Swipe Fee Changes
Numerous retail groups, including the National Retail Federation (NRF), the Retail Industry Leaders Association and the Merchants Payments Coalition, applauded the proposal (to lower debit card swipe fees) but raised concerns that the revisions do not go far enough, as Convenience Store News previously reported. "This is a significant reduction that will save money for retailers and their customers, and we welcome the progress that has been made," said NRF Chief Administrative Officer and General Counsel (and MPC Executive Committee member) Stephanie Martz. "Nonetheless, it still doesn't get to the 'reasonable' level Congress sought and it isn't proportional to banks' falling costs."
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