WASHINGTON–America’s Credit Unions has sent a letter to Senate leaders stating its strong opposition to any interchange-related legislation being added to the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
The trade group told the Senate that efforts to extend new routing requirements to credit cards would create significant disruption to credit-issuing credit unions, and that any interchange language from the Credit Card Competition Act or to commission an interchange fee study by the Department of Defense (DoD) would have negative impacts on the electronic payments system.
The study amendment has recently been proposed by Senators Roger Marshall (R-KS) and Dick Durbin (D-IL), the co-sponsors of the Credit Union Competition Act.
‘Backdoor Price Control’
“The Credit Card Competition Act not about competition. It is about increasing the profits of big box retailers at the expense of consumers and financial institutions by creating government intervention in a free market and establishing a backdoor price control on the credit card system,” wrote America’s Credit Unions President/CEO Jim Nussle.
Nussle added that the proposal to have DoD study the interchange issue is just a “trojan horse” to attach the issue to the bill.
Second Letter Sent
America’s Credit Unions also sent a second letter to Sens. Steve Daines (R-MT), Mike Rounds, (R-SD), Mark Warner (D-VA), and Tina Smith (D-MN), who have proposed a broad package to aid Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) by attaching the CDFI Fund Transparency Act, the CDFI Bond Guarantee Act, and the Scaling Community Lenders Act to the NDAA.
America’s Credit Unions expressed support for efforts to promote community development financial institutions (CDFIs) and said it is committed to work with them to find “proper avenues to advance these issues.”
