FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: J. Craig Shearman
(202) 257-3678 craig@shearmancommunications.com
WASHINGTON, April 16, 2026 — Huge profit increases reported by major card-issuing banks come as they are collecting as much as $58 million a day in credit card “swipe” fees on gasoline and diesel as fuel prices soar because of the conflict in Iran, the Merchants Payments Coalition said today.
“Big banks and card networks are seeing a windfall as fuel prices rise,” MPC Executive Committee member and National Association of Convenience Stores General Counsel Doug Kantor said. “It doesn’t cost them any more to process gas purchases at $4 a gallon than it did at $2, but they are collecting more on every gallon and profiteering on the backs of American motorists. Swipe fees drive up the price of gas in the family car but do the same for the diesel that fuels tractor-trailers, ultimately adding to the price of every product delivered over our nation’s highways. This is part of the swipe fee ripoff condemned by President Trump, and it’s time for Congress to follow his lead by bringing competition to these price-fixed fees.”
JPMorgan Chase, the nation’s largest issuer of Visa and Mastercard credit cards, reported Tuesday that net profits for the first quarter were up 13% year over year and totaled $16.5 billion on revenue of $49.8 billion. Meanwhile, No. 2 card issuer Citigroup said net profits were up an astonishing 42% year over year at $5.8 billion on $24.6 billion in revenue while Wells Fargo, also a large card issuer, reported that net profits were up 7% at $5.3 billion on $21.4 billion in revenue.
Based on those figures, JPMorgan Chase had a profit margin of 33%, Citigroup 24% and Wells Fargo 25%. Profits are even higher at Visa, at 54%, and Mastercard, at 47%, both as of January. By contrast, net profits for merchants average about 3%.
The growing bank profits are being driven, in part, by higher swipe fees on fuel.
Credit card swipe fees on the average $4.14 gallon of gasoline amounted to 9.8 cents as of April 7, according to MPC’s Fuel Price/Swipe Fee Tracker, while swipe fees on the average $5.65 gallon of diesel were 13.3 cents. Based on average daily fuel consumption and the average swipe fee rate of 2.36%, fees on gas and diesel combined would amount to $58.3 million a day if all fuel purchases were paid for with credit cards. That was up 19% from $49 billion a day when MPC launched the tracker a month earlier.
The swipe fees banks charge merchants to process credit card purchases are a percentage of the transaction, meaning the amount collected automatically goes up as prices rise. Not all fuel purchases are made with credit cards, but some cards carry swipe fees as high as 4%, helping banks make up for cash and debit card purchases.
The $9 million daily increase in swipe fee revenue would amount to an extra $270 million a month if fuel prices remain inflated. Lucrative credit card and debit card swipe fees have already jumped 80% since the pandemic and hit a record $198.25 billion in 2025.
The earnings reports come as Congress is considering the Credit Card Competition Act, which President Donald Trump endorsed earlier this year to “stop the out of control Swipe Fee ripoff.”
Swipe fees are most merchants’ highest operating cost after labor and too much to absorb, driving up prices by more than $1,200 a year for the average family. The fees are rising largely because of lack of competition — Visa and Mastercard, which control 80% of the market, each centrally set the swipe fee rates charged by all banks that issue cards under their brands and restrict processing to their own networks.
Under the bill, banks with at least $100 billion in assets would enable credit cards to be processed over at least one unaffiliated network like Star, NYCE or Shazam in addition to Visa or Mastercard. The measure is expected to result in competition over fees, security and service that would save merchants and their customers $17 billion a year.
About MPC
The Merchants Payments Coalition represents retailers, supermarkets, convenience stores, gasoline stations, online merchants 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.