Credit Card Companies Are Inflating Fuel Prices (And the Price of Nearly Everything Else)
Americans buy about 377 million gallons of gasoline per day. The national average price of gas is $3.57 per gallon. If those gallons were paid for with credit cards, the swipe fees on gas sales alone would be more than $31 million PER DAY.
READ MORE +MPC Hill Blast: ‘Extensive’ and ‘Punitive’ Credit Card Swipe Fee Increases
The calendar has barely turned to 2026, and credit card swipe fees are increasing again. The credit card giants keep pretending otherwise, but year after year they dramatically increase swipe fees.
READ MORE +MPC Hill Blast: The Hidden Force Pushing Up Gas Prices
Customers don’t see it, but there is a hidden factor pushing up the price of gasoline — and virtually everything else that Americans buy. That hidden force is credit card swipe fees.
READ MORE +MPC Hill Blast: 'Persistent Cost Pressures'
The James Beard Foundation just issued its annual report on “The State of Independent Restaurants” and the picture is sobering.
READ MORE +MPC Hill Blast: 'Money, Power and Profit'
The latest installment of Robert Kiyosaki’s “Money, Power, and Profit” titled “The Cartel” is quite a read. It devastatingly walks through the problems with the two separate cartels that Visa and Mastercard have formed to set and charge credit card swipe fees.
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CardRates.com: Interchange at Risk in Illinois
Merchant groups came out in support of the ruling, with the Merchant Payments Coalition releasing a statement that labeled it a major victory.
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KNSD-TV: The true cost of credit-card swipe fees and the push to lower them
Doug Kantor is with the National Association of Convenience Stores, which is part of the Merchants Payments Coalition. He said more competition would benefit businesses and consumers. "When the merchant has more money, than they can pay their employees or expand and open a new store — that's good for everybody," Kantor said. "When customers have more money in their pockets so that they can buy more things, that's good for everybody. It's good for the economy. It's good for the customer. So taking that friction out, that really adds up."
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Paint and Decorating Retailer: Valentine’s Day Shoppers Face $683 Million in Credit Card Swipe Fees
“For restaurants, swipe fees are anything but a love story,” says MPC executive committee member and National Restaurant Association director of technology and innovation policy Brennan Duckett. “On one of the year’s biggest dining holidays, these excessive fees raise costs for restaurant operators and for every couple trying to enjoy a special night out. It’s time for Congress to show some love to small businesses and their guests by passing the Credit Card Competition Act.”
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Crain's Chicago Business: Illinois swipe fee ruling marks rare win for retailers — but fight is far from over
“This is a major victory for merchants, their customers and their employees,” Doug Kantor, an executive committee member of the Merchants Payments Coalition and general counsel of the National Association of Convenience Stores, said in regard to Kendall’s ruling. “Merchants provide a service by collecting taxes and tips that are turned over to the state and to employees, and it is unfair to punish them by charging them price-fixed swipe fees for doing that.”
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U.S. Sun: CARD CATCH Credit cards users get HUGE win as ‘swipe’ law gets new life – but July 1 date looms
“The judge has seen clearly that it’s Visa and Mastercard that run the swipe-fee system and that states can regulate these anti-competitive fees,” Merchants Payments Coalition executive committee member Doug Kantor emphasized in a statement.
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