WASHINGTON — While credit unions and other financial services organizations are blasting the bill, the Merchants Payments Coalition is welcoming the reintroduction of the Credit Card Competition Act, which is being sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS).
The coalition, which represents thousands of merchants, supermarkets, convenience stores, gasoline stations and online retailers, praised congressional sponsors for reviving the legislation that would require large credit card issuers to allow at least two unaffiliated networks to process credit card transactions.
Supporters say it would undercut the dominant market share of Visa and Mastercard, which control about 80% of credit card network traffic, and reduce what merchants refer to as onerous “swipe fees.”
‘Fanning the Flames’
In a statement, MPC Executive Committee member Doug Kantor, general counsel of the National Association of Convenience Stores, said the legislation would ease cost pressures on Main Street and American families.
“Credit card swipe fees burden working Americans and Main Street by fanning the flames of inflation,” he said.
The MPC asserts that the average U.S. household pays about $1,200 more annually because of those fees.
“It’s time to pass the Credit Card Competition Act to bring fairness and competition to the broken credit card system,” Kantor said in a statement.
Bill Follows Statement by Trump
Durbin’s office said in a separate announcement that the bill’s reintroduction follows renewed interest in swipe-fee reform and comes just days after former President Donald Trump publicly endorsed the measure as a way to curb “out of control” swipe fees.
The MPC said there are nearly 2,000 companies and about 300 trade associations, along with consumer and labor groups, backing the bill. They argue that increased competition among payment networks would drive down costs for both merchants and consumers without compromising card security or rewards programs.
Pushback by CUs, Fis
Credit unions, along with other financial institutions, are contending the bill could disrupt current payment ecosystems, potentially weaken cybersecurity protections and diminish popular rewards programs, and argue that interchange savings may not be passed through to consumers.
The reintroduction marks another chapter in the years-long debate over the legislation, which first surfaced in earlier sessions of Congress and continues to draw sharp contrast between merchants seeking lower costs and financial stakeholders wary of regulatory mandates.
