Payments Dive: Biden, Republicans clash over card fees
“These fees, which are price-fixed by Visa and Mastercard in a way that insulates the fees from normal marketplace competition, impose enormous costs upon American merchants and inflate retail prices paid by American consumers,” said the letter from the Merchants Payments Coalition; Americans for Financial Reform; and the National Association of Convenience Stores, among others.
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Gifts and Decorative Accessories: Scathing Email to Capitol Hill Calls out JPMorgan and Banking Industry for ‘Complete Fabrications’
On the heels of JPMorgan Chase’s move to add a competing processing network to Visa and Mastercard credit cards it issues in France, the Merchants Payments Coalition responded, saying it shows that the the banking industry’s objections to the Credit Card Competition Act “are complete fabrications.” “JPMorgan and its giant banking friends in the U.S. say that offering a network alternative in America will make the sky fall, end rewards, hurt security, and cause the sun to implode and turn into a black hole,” MPC said. “Is it really true … that they actually know everything they are saying here is a fabrication, and they have no problem adding network competitors overseas?”
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Consumer and Merchant Groups Urge Congress to Reject Bill Delaying Fed Action on Debit Card Swipe Fees
Nearly 70 national and state organizations representing consumers and merchants called on Congress to reject legislation introduced by Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-Mo., that would delay the Federal Reserve’s proposal to reduce the regulated rate for debit card swipe fees.
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Convenience Store News: Industry Speaks Out Against Attempt to Stall Changes to Debit Card Swipe Fees
Now, more than 60 national and state organizations representing consumers and merchants are speaking out against any attempts to put the proposed changes on hold, according to the Merchants Payment Coalition. 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. "Every day of further delay in the Fed's consideration of its proposed rule means another day in which large card-issuing banks are deducting significantly more money out of debit transactions than is reasonable, proportional, or allowable under the law Congress passed," the groups said. "That is why financial industry trade associations are seeking to delay the Fed as long as possible from taking action to update its 2011 regulation — delay preserves what for them is an enormously lucrative status quo."
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Gifts and Decorative Accessories: Merchant Groups Fight Against a Delay that ‘Preserves an Enormously Lucrative Status Quo’
The Merchants Payments Coalition cited that under regulations established in 2011, banks that have at least $10 billion in assets and follow rates centrally set by Visa and Mastercard can charge up to 21 cents per debit card transaction plus 1 cent for fraud prevention and 0.05 percent of the transaction amount for fraud loss recovery. Banks can charge any amount they want if they set the fees themselves, but no major banks have done so. Smaller banks are exempt and can charge as much as they like.
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CStore Decisions: How the $35 Billion Capital One/Discover Acquisition Could Affect Retailers
“(The deal) probably doesn’t make much difference at all. It may mean higher debit card fees, but it doesn’t change any of the dynamics on the credit card side with respect to merchants,” said Doug Kantor, general counsel at NACS and a member of the executive committee of the Merchants Payments Coalition. “So, it looks like it’s mostly some downside on debit, but otherwise a relatively unchanged picture.” For the merger to bring swipe fee competition, Kantor said Congress needs to pass the pending Credit Card Competition Act (CCCA), which would give merchants bargaining power with networks.
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Congressional Hearings Examining Credit Card Swipe Fees
Congress has held 17 hearings examining credit card swipe fees over the past 18 years.
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Gifts and Decorative Accessories: ‘The Card Industry Is Triple-dipping:’ New Data Shows Record Profits for Banks from Fees, Interest Rates
“The card industry is triple-dipping, making millions of consumers pay three times for their credit cards,” MPC Executive Committee member and National Association of Convenience Stores Senior Vice President of Government Relations Lyle Beckwith said. “The largest banks make consumers pay an annual fee whether they use their card or not, then pay higher prices because of swipe fees every time they make a purchase, then pay huge interest rates on the balance."
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New Data Shows Banks ‘Triple Dipping’ By Increasing Credit Card Interest, Annual Fees and Swipe Fees
Recent data shows the rise in credit card “swipe” fees that has driven up prices for consumers by billions of dollars over the past decade has come as banks have also dramatically increased annual fees and the money they take from consumers through interest, MPC said.
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Marketplace Radio: The fees war between retailers and credit card companies is heating up
Merchants argue these percentages are averages of hundreds of different kinds of rates for different cards, merchants and situations, and conceal increasing numbers of high-end credit cards that charge merchants higher rates. “A lot of times what Visa and Mastercard will do,” said Doug Kantor, general counsel for the National Association of Convenience Stores (and MPC Executive Committee member), “is they’ll create new rates, leave the old ones in place, and say, ‘Well, we didn’t increase all these rates in here,’ and they sort of average out all their rates, even though they know the banks are issuing more cards at the higher rate.”
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