FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: J. Craig Shearman
(202) 257-3678 craig@shearmancommunications.com
WASHINGTON, July 23, 2024 – 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 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. “These fees have an impact on families across every sector of our society and virtually everyone wants competition to fix this broken market.”
According to the survey, 55% of likely voters in this fall’s general election support the CCCA while only 7% oppose it, and 38% are unsure. Supporters outnumber opponents by nearly 50 percentage points.
The survey 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. Among Democrats, 46% favor a candidate who supports the bill while only 6% would more likely oppose the candidate. Among Republicans, 41% favor a CCCA supporter while only 7% would lean against them based on the CCCA.
The polling showed Hispanic voters would more likely support a candidate who supports the bill than one who opposes it by a margin of 39 percentage points (46%-7%), along with a 36-point margin for Black voters (49%-13%) and a 35-point margin for white voters (41%-6%).
By income, the margin of voters more likely to support a candidate who supports the CCCA is 38 percentage points for those making between $50,000 and $100,000 (45%-7%) and for those from $100,000 to $150,000 (43%-5%). The margin is 32 points for those making above $150,000 (36%-4%) and 28 points for those making under $50,000 (40%-12%).
Opponents have falsely claimed the CCCA would cause a reduction in credit card rewards, but that false claim makes voters even more likely to support the bill, not oppose it. In all, 37% of respondents said the loss-of-rewards message would make them more likely to support the bill. Only 15% would be less likely to support it. At 42%, voters making under $50,000 a year were most likely to favor the bill more even after hearing the reduced-rewards message.
The survey of 2,040 likely general election voters was conducted June 3-6 by the polling firm co/efficient through mobile phone text responses and landline telephone interviews. The results were weighted by age, gender, education level, race, region and self-reported political party and have a margin of error of plus or minus 3.17%.
The results come after a federal judge recently rejected a proposed settlement in a nearly 20-year-old class-action lawsuit over Visa and Mastercard credit card swipe fees, calling the temporary reduction in fees “paltry” and saying, “The evidence indicates that, absent the allegedly anticompetitive conduct, credit-card interchange rates could be more than 100 basis points lower than they currently are.” The judge also noted that experts indicated the fees had been rising year over year.
Overall swipe fees hit a record $172 billion last year and are most merchants’ highest operating cost after labor, driving up prices by more than $1,100 a year for the average family.
Swipe fees for Visa and Mastercard credit cards alone have nearly quadrupled since 2010, reaching $100.77 billion in 2023. Swipe fees for the two networks are rising rapidly largely because Visa and Mastercard control 80% of the market and each centrally set swipe fees charged by banks that issue cards under their brands while also blocking transactions from being processed over other networks that could do the job with lower fees and better security. The CCCA would require banks with at least $100 billion in assets to enable cards they issue to be processed over at least two unaffiliated networks – Visa or Mastercard plus a competitor like NYCE, Star, Shazam or Discover.
Banks would choose which networks to enable but merchants would decide which to use, resulting in competition over fees, security and service expected to save merchants and consumers over $16 billion a year. Rewards would not be affected, security would be improved, consumers would still use the same cards, and community banks and all but one credit union would be exempt.
About MPC
The Merchants Payments Coalition represents retailers, supermarkets, convenience stores, gasoline stations, online merchants, hotels and others fighting for a more competitive and transparent card system that is fair to consumers and merchants. Follow MPC on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn for the latest on swipe fees.
