Mass Market Retailers: Credit card ‘Swipe’ fees cost the average family $1,200 each year
“Swipe” fees banks charge merchants to process credit card transactions will drive up the price of school and college supplies by $3 billion this year and cost the average family between $20 and $30, the Merchants Payments Coalition reported Monday. “With swipe fees constantly rising, this hidden tax takes more out of families’ school supply budgets every year,” MPC member and National Association of College Stores Vice President of Government Affairs Richard Hershman said. “This is money that could go to children’s educations or helping families make ends meet, but it lines the pockets of credit card company executives and Wall Street bankers instead. Credit card companies get away with this because of lack of competition. Congress needs to stand up for families and their children by passing the Credit Card Competition Act.”
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Progressive Grocer: Credit Card ‘Swipe’ Fees Account for $3B of Back-to-School Costs This Year
“Swipe” fees that banks charge merchants to process credit card transactions will drive up the price of school and college supplies by $3 billion this year and cost the average family between $20 and $30, according to the Merchants Payments Coalition.
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Dead Pixels Society: Credit card ‘swipe’ fees account for $3 billion of back-to-school costs this year
“Swipe” fees banks charge merchants to process credit card transactions will drive up the price of school and college supplies by $3 billion this year and cost the average family between $20 and $30, said the Merchants Payments Coalition. “With swipe fees constantly rising, this hidden tax takes more out of families’ school supply budgets every year,” MPC member and National Association of College Stores Vice President of Government Affairs Richard Hershman said. “This is money that could go to children’s educations or helping families make ends meet, but it lines the pockets of credit card company executives and Wall Street bankers instead. Credit card companies get away with this because of a lack of competition. Congress needs to stand up for families and their children by passing the Credit Card Competition Act.”
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Digital Transactions: Congress Passes The GENIUS Act Without a CCCA Amendment
The Merchants Payment Coalition, which backs the CCCA and supported attaching it to the GENIUS Act, says the merchant community will continue to push for the bill’s passage. One reason is that banks are showing signs of wanting to dominate the stablecoin market, especially when it comes to using the digital currency to enable consumer payments, merchant groups contend. The CCCA seeks to moderate interchange costs for merchants by requiring a wider choice of networks for transaction processing. “We’re seeing the card companies trying to dominate stablecoins and create the same duopoly they have in cards,” says Doug Kantor, an MPC executive committee member and general counsel for the National Association of Convenience Stores. “We are glad the GENIUS Act passed and we think stablecoin technology will help merchants, but the bill does not address the issues [around merchant acceptance]. There is still work to be done in this area.”
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Mass Market Retailers: Merchants demand swipe fee reform as banks rake in record profits
Three of the nation’s largest banks reported huge profits again today as merchants continue to press Congress to address rapidly rising “swipe” fees banks charge them to process transactions, the Merchants Payments Coalition said. “Banks are bragging about higher profits and the easy treatment they expect from regulators while Main Street struggles,” MPC Executive Committee member and National Association of Convenience Stores General Counsel Doug Kantor said. “Credit card swipe fees are the result of price-fixing and the credit card industry is looking for ways to make sure they block any new technology that might help. It’s time for Congress to bring relief to Main Street merchants and their customers.”
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Inkl: The Quiet Rise of Stablecoin: Are You Ready to Shop and Bank Differently?
Last year, retailers and e-commerce companies paid a record $187.2 billion in swipe fees for credit and debit cards. That is according to a Merchants Payment Coalition report. “With no competition to hold them in check, price-fixed swipe fees rise every year and shot up again last year,” said MPC Executive Committee member Christine Pollack. She is also vice president of government relations at FMI – The Food Industry Association.
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Digital Transactions: The States’ Battle to Regulate Interchange
“The rise in swipe fees since 2020 has been astronomical, and those are out-the-door dollars for merchants,” says Doug Kantor, a Merchants Payment Coalition executive committee member and general counsel for the National Association of Convenience Stores. “There is a measure of desperation among merchants over how high and fast fees are rising,” Kantor says. The average card swipe fee is 2.35% for Mastercard and Visa-branded credit cards, according to the Merchants Payments Coalition.
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Digital Transactions: Stablecoins’ Steady Rise
“Our view is we should have more innovation in payments,” says Doug Kantor, general counsel for the National Association of Convenience Stores and an executive committee member of the Merchants Payments Coalition. But Kantor sees a dark side, as well. “Visa and Mastercard are also engaged in looking at stablecoins,” he notes. “If it’s just a replication of their dominance [in payments], that’s not helpful.”
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Fox News: Bartenders spill the beans on Gen Z's 'annoying' drink-by-drink payment habit
Card payments can not only slow down bartenders on a busy night, they can also be costly to a bar owner's bottom line. Credit card fees, which range from, on average, 2% to 4% of the transaction, are assessed with every swipe, according to Doug Kantor with the Merchants Payments Coalition.
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Newsday: GENIUS Act could bring stablecoin payments to Long Island businesses and consumers
The Merchants Payments Coalition, a national advocacy group, believes the GENIUS Act "creates the potential” to disrupt the credit card industry, said Doug Kantor, general counsel for the National Association of Convenience Stores, although the group remains concerned that “by itself, it’s not enough.” More widespread adoption of stablecoins will “give business owners more options and allow them to make payments more convenient and cheaper for the customers,” he said, reducing the “inflationary pressure credit card payments have on prices today. It would also allow people to use their phones and other technology to pay for goods and services, rather than carrying around cash or cards, he said.
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