FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: J. Craig Shearman
(202) 257-3678 craig@shearmancommunications.com
WASHINGTON, February 17, 2025 – The Yemeni American Merchants Association today joined the Merchants Payments Coalition in calling on Congress to pass the Credit Card Competition Act to address rising “swipe” fees that drive up costs for merchants and prices for consumers by billions of dollars a year.
“Like most Main Street businesses, the swipe fees our members pay to accept credit cards have grown at a remarkable rate,” YAMA Director of Public Relations Youssef Mubarez said. “These fees increase inflation and reduce the buying power of our community, and the situation has become untenable.”
“Our members run bodegas and other small shops that are the lifeblood of their communities,” Mubarez said. “They are places to feed families, meet friends and neighbors, and bring our communities together. These local small businesses, however, are increasingly burdened by credit card swipe fees that have grown out of control. The fees have increased by more than 60% since 2020 alone. If we stay on this path, some of these local businesses will not make it.”
Mubarez said the association’s members have been particularly hard hit because their customers cannot afford for them to increase prices to cover increasing swipe fees. And when they have surcharged for credit card use rather than raising prices for all customers, they have been threatened with huge Visa and Mastercard fines “that could break their business.” Based in Brooklyn, N.Y., the group represents about 5,000 small New York businesses.
Mubarez’s comments were made in a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.; House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y.; Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.
The letter comes as Congress considers the CCCA, which would require that credit cards issued by the nation’s largest banks be enabled to be processed over competing networks rather than just Visa and Mastercard. The two networks control over 80% of the market and currently restrict processing to their own networks while centrally setting the swipe fees charged by all banks that issue cards under their brands. Routing transactions over competing networks like NYCE, Star or Shazam could save merchants and consumers over $16 billion a year while improving security and service.
“We welcome Yemeni American merchants to the fight for fair, competitive swipe fees,” MPC Executive Committee member and National Association of Convenience Stores General Counsel Doug Kantor said. “These are small businesses with razor-thin profit margins. They and their customers pay more every day to pad the record profits of Visa and Mastercard. Small bodegas desperately need the Credit Card Competition Act.”
Credit and debit card swipe fees hit a record $172 billion last year. The fees are most merchants’ highest operating cost after labor and drive up prices by more than $1,100 a year for the average family.
YAMA recently joined the growing ranks of national groups in the MPC. Current national association members include the Airport Restaurant and Retail Association, the American Beverage Licensees, the American Booksellers Association, the Asian American Hotel Owners Association, the Coalition of Franchisee Associations, the Energy Marketers of America, FMI – the Food Industry Association, the Independent Restaurant Coalition, the Institute for Local Self Reliance’s Independent Business Initiative, the International Franchise Association, the Merchant Advisory Group, the National Association of College Stores, the National Association of Convenience Stores, the National Association of Theater Owners, the National Association of Truck Stop Operators, the National Federation of Independent Businesses, the National Grocers Association, the National Lumber and Building Materials Dealers Association, the National Retail Federation, the National Restaurant Association, the National Sporting Goods Association, the Outdoor Hospitality Industry and the Retail Industry Leaders Association. In addition to national associations, hundreds of state merchant associations are also members.
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.
