USA Today: Why some say paying cash is a gift to small businesses this Saturday
Americans paid between $187.2 billion and $236.4 billion, or about $1,200 annually per family, in credit card processing fees last year, according to the nonprofit Merchants Payments Coalition advocacy group. Credit card processing fees are levied both on the price of the goods or services and any taxes or tips added to the bill.
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Financial Brand: Will the Mastercard/Visa Settlement Upend Your Credit Card Strategy?
The National Association of Convenience Stores called it more "smoke and mirrors." The National Retail Federation called the offer "window dressing" and said that "this is the third attempt to settle this case and the card industry either just doesn’t get it or just doesn’t care." NRF called the 10 basis point reduction "inadequate" compared to the average swipe fee of 2.35% in 2024. The Merchant Payments Coalition, in opposing the settlement, pointed out that swipe fees "are too high to absorb, leading to higher prices."
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Bloomberg Law: Visa Finds Even $200 Billion Can’t Resolve Battle With Merchants
“Merchants across the nation oppose this settlement and did not agree to it,” said Doug Kantor, an executive committee member of the Merchants Payments Coalition , which opposes the fees on behalf of a group of retailers. “A similar bad deal was rejected by the courts just last year and merchants are looking to the court to reject this one too.”
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Money Talks News: That 2% Cash Back Perk Could Actually Cost You 3% at Checkout
For decades, credit card users have enjoyed earning rewards while everyone else subsidized those perks through higher prices. Cash-paying customers have been getting the “shortest straw,” as Doug Kantor, an executive committee member at the Merchants Payments Coalition, described it.
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State Affairs: Massachusetts Bills Seek to Remove Taxes and Tips From Interchange Fees
“We desperately need reform,” Doug Kantor, general counsel at the National Association of Convenience Stores and a member of the Merchants Payments Coalition Executive Committee, told State Affairs. “Other businesses in any sector across the economy don’t get away with centrally fixing fees or prices and having competitors agree to charge the same thing. We usually call that price fixing and say ‘you can’t do that.’ We’ve got to have something that injects competition or limits the fees in some way.”
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MPC Hill Blast: Main Street Merchants and Consumer Groups: Reject the Sham Credit Card Settlement
Last week, the credit card industry announced its third attempt to finagle a litigation settlement that would cut off merchants’ rights to challenge the anticompetitive swipe fee system in court in exchange for largely meaningless “reforms.” The response from Main Street merchants and consumer groups has been clear: this is a bad deal.
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Payment Expert: US Senator attacks Visa and Mastercard swipe fee deal as ‘falling short’
The National Retail Federation and the Merchants Payments Coalition have already criticised the compromise as offering modest, time-limited relief while leaving Visa and Mastercard’s core pricing power largely intact.
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WebProNews: Swipe Fee Showdown: Visa and Mastercard’s $38B Deal Reshapes Retail Payments
Not all merchants are celebrating. Some trade groups, including the Merchants Payments Coalition, have voiced opposition, arguing the reductions are too modest and temporary.
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NewsNation: Here’s how the Visa, Mastercard swipe-fee settlement could affect you
“[The proposal] ignores the fact that 85% of cards issued today are rewards cards and that merchants have no choice but to accept them,” said Jennifer Hatcher, an executive committee member of the Merchants Payment Coalition, in a statement calling for the settlement to be rejected.
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NerdWallet: ‘We Take Visa, Just Not That One’: Are Credit Card Rules About to Change?
The proposal “ignores the fact that 85% of cards issued today are rewards cards and that merchants have no choice but to accept them,” added Jennifer Hatcher, a Merchant Payments Coalition executive committee member, in a statement. “Banks would likely also have the power to move cards into different categories, effectively forcing merchants to continue to take all cards and pay their high prices.”
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