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.
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The average household paid $1,100 in swipe fees over the course of 2023, according to the Merchants Payments Coalition.
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Doug Kantor, general counsel at the National Association of Convenience Stores (and MPC Executive Committee member), who is also highly engaged on the Credit Card Competition Act, told The Hill that the senator and his staff “have always been fantastic to work with.” “It is not helpful for people to go in [to Vance’s office] and sling a bunch of BS. They need to know what they’re talking about,” Kantor said.
READ MORE +Chain Drug Review: Survey shows voters want Congress to pass the Credit Card Competition Act
“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. “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 +Inside Sources/DC Journal: Consumers Back Bill to Lower Credit Card Fees, Poll Shows
More than 55 percent of 2,040 likely voters surveyed by co/efficient said they supported the bill (while only 7 percent were opposed). ... The co/efficient poll, commissioned by the Merchants Payments Coalition, found 42 percent of voters plan to support a U.S. Senate candidate who backs the CCCA (while only 7 percent were less likely to support a candidate who supports the bill). That included 46 percent of Democrats, 41 percent of Republicans, and 37 percent of independents.
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As everyone learned, and many experienced first-hand, last week a flawed update from the cybersecurity software firm Crowdstrike disrupted operations at companies of all kinds throughout much of the world.
READ MORE +New Survey Shows Overwhelming Majority of Voters Want Congress to Pass the Credit Card Competition Act
An overwhelming majority of likely voters want Congress to pass the Credit Card Competition Act, and both Democrats and Republicans are more likely to support Senate candidates who back the measure, according to a new survey released by MPC.
READ MORE +MPC Hill Blast: The Blame Game
Big Wall Street banks love to jack up fees on consumers. And they like to blame anything else they can for their decisions to do so.
READ MORE +Digital Transactions: A Card Issuer Trade Group Turns Up the Heat in Its Anti-CCCA Campaign
“All the claims about how rewards programs would be harmed by the CCCA have been fact-checked by independent third-parties and shown to be false,” says Doug Kantor, an MPC executive committee member and general counsel for the National Association of Convenience Stores. Kantor argues the EPC’s latest campaign shows there is no length to which the EPC will not go to spread misinformation about the credit card legislation. “There are small businesses and labor unions that support the legislation because they realize [the system is broken] and reform is needed,” Kantor says. “The banking industry does not speak for small businesses [or merchants]. The strategy the EPC is taking is not effective in our view because people are not as stupid as the banking industry thinks they are.”
READ MORE +Airport Experience News: Airport Restaurants and Retailers Join Merchants Payments Coalition
“We welcome ARRA members to the fight for fair, competitive swipe fees,” said MPC executive committee member and National Association of Convenience Stores general counsel Doug Kantor. “These businesses see the impact of these out-of-control fees every day and their involvement shows that swipe fees touch virtually every merchant whether they do business downtown, at the mall, online or even at the airport.”
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