Politico: Marshall files credit card swipe fee crackdown as crypto bill amendment
Doug Kantor, a representative for the Merchants Payments Coalition, which represents retailers, said in a statement that it "is time for Congress to deal with the hidden credit card fees driving up the prices of nearly everything we buy."
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Native News Online: Credit & Debit Card Swipes Keep More Than $1,110 Worth of Food Out of Reach for Native Families Annually
The Merchants Payments Coalition today welcomed a letter from some of the nation’s largest Native American tribes urging Congress to include the Credit Card Competition Act in the GENIUS Act, aiming to help reduce rising costs for tribal members.
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Punchbowl News: How retailers learned to love stablecoins
“We’re living the nightmare already,” Doug Kantor said, who serves as a member of the Merchants Payments Coalition. “The idea that there’s a spooky Big Tech monster around the corner does not seem all that scary to us.”
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State Affairs: Cash or credit? State legislatures mull limiting fees tied to card swipes
A Nilson Report study found U.S. businesses paid a combined total of $187.2 billion in interchange fees in 2024, up from $172 billion in 2023 and up 70% since the pandemic. “With no competition to hold them in check, price-fixed swipe fees rise every year and shot up again last year,” said Christine Pollack, vice president of government relations at the Food Industry Association and a member of the Merchants Payments Coalition executive committee, when the report was released in March. “As Main Street small businesses and American families continue to face economic uncertainty, the giant card networks and Wall Street banks continue to take more money out of their pockets every day,” Pollack said. “These fees contribute to inflation and siphon off money that could be used to hold down prices or invest in local communities. Momentum for swipe fee reform is rapidly growing in Congress, and constituents in every district are calling on lawmakers to stand up for Main Street over Wall Street.”
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Motley Fool: Average Credit Card Processing Fees and Costs in 2025
In 2024, credit card companies in the U.S. earned a record $148.5 billion from processing fees charged to merchants. Families paid an average of close to $1,200 in swipe fees in 2024, according to the Merchants Payments Coalition. The money made from these fees increased at a faster rate than the actual money spent on purchases, adding fuel to the already fierce debate between credit card companies and businesses that complain about so-called swipe fees.
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The Well News: The Road to Innovation and Prosperity
Op-ed by MPC Executive Committee member and National Association of Convenience Stores General Counsel Doug Kantor and PDX Advisors CEO Shane Rodgers says the Credit Card Competition Act, the GENIUS Act and the STABLE Act "would work together to open the current market to competition and lay the regulatory groundwork we need for the new market to take flight."
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Open Banker: Don’t Let the Banking Borgs Fool You
Op-ed by MPC Executive Committee member and National Association of Convenience Stores General Counsel Doug Kantor says "resistance isn’t futile" despite banks' opposition to swipe fee reform and urges "Resist away with full confidence that limiting the banks’ abuses on debit, credit, fees and the like won’t harm consumers. Don’t buy the bank lobby nonsense."
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Senate Banking Committee: Ahead of Historic Senate Vote, Key Stakeholders Voice Support for GENIUS Act
“The U.S. payments system desperately needs innovation, and a sound regulatory framework for stablecoins is one key step in achieving that,” said Chris Jones, Merchants Payments Coalition Executive Committee Member and Senior Vice President of Government Relations and Counsel, National Grocers Association. “For too long the dominant payments industry players have used their positions to stop innovation and competition. The GENIUS Act is a good step on the road to positive change.”
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Payments Dive: Durbin to keep pushing card bill
Durbin is waiting for the right moment, says Doug Kantor, who serves as general counsel for the National Association of Convenience stores and who has been a major proponent of the proposal since it landed in 2022. Durbin’s camp is keeping an eye out for a larger bill that would be a suitable vehicle for carrying the legislation across the finish line, Kantor said in an interview last week. The lack of movement this year has probably been a result of the chambers being preoccupied with other major issues like the budget, he said. The Merchants Payments Coalition, which includes the National Retail Federation and the National Restaurant Association, among others, has also encouraged the legislation. “There is a broad and growing recognition that the credit card companies don’t do business the right way, and this bill may be one piece of addressing that,” Kantor said.
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Mass Market Retailers: Merchants report Credit Card Competition Act will still be needed following Capital One/Discover Merger
“Visa and Mastercard dominate the credit card market and the Capital One-Discover merger won’t change anything about that,” MPC Executive Committee member and National Association of Convenience Stores General Counsel Doug Kantor said. “With Visa and Mastercard controlling more than 80% of the market and price-fixing swipe fees on behalf of each of their banks, there is no competition on swipe fees merchants are charged. Discover is only 3.5% of the credit card network market now and Capital One-Discover combined will only be 3.5% of the credit card network market after the merger is done. Nothing there helps at all with the swipe fee problem.”
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