Mass Market Retailers: Swipe fees seen as adding $3.4 billion to parents' back-to-school costs this year
"With swipe fees rising year after year, this hidden tax undermines affordability and drains money from families that need it," said Doug Kantor, an MPC Executive Committee member and general counsel for the National Association of Convenience Stores. "A family could buy superhero lunchboxes for two kids or a backpack for their college sophomore with the money credit card companies are swiping from them. Congress should protect families trying to deal with the high cost of putting their children through school by passing the Credit Card Competition Act."
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Credit Card ‘Swipe’ Fees Drain $3.4 Billion from Families’ Back-to-School Spending This Year
“Swipe” fees banks charge merchants to process credit card transactions will drive up the price of school and college supplies by a record $3.4 billion this year and cost the average family as much as $34, MPC said.
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CardRates.com: Merchants Seek Lower Interchange Fees
Recent bank earnings gave the Merchants Payments Coalition more ammunition in its campaign to lower interchange fees. The merchant advocacy group issued a press release citing second-quarter earnings from some of the leading banks in the U.S. It argued that the results show issuers can afford to reduce interchange fees. Doug Kantor, National Association of Convenience Stores General Counsel and Executive Committee Member of the Merchants Payments Coalition, said in the release that megabank profits are driven largely by “swipe fees.” He added that the fees cause prices to rise at a time when affordability is a concern for many Americans.
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Payments Dive: Is BNPL financing raising prices?
BNPL transactions add to merchants’ cost structure but can also provide meaningful business benefits, said Doug Kantor, an executive committee member of the Merchants Payments Coalition. However, he added, BNPL represents only a minute sliver of overall U.S. payments volume. “The fees are quite high, and that’s something that individual businesses have to make decisions about on those costs versus what BNPL provides,” Kantor said Tuesday in an interview.
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Merchants Say Reports That ‘Banks Smash Earnings Records’ Show Need to Address Credit Card Swipe Fees
Double-digit increases in profits reported by some of the nation’s largest credit card-issuing banks show the need to end the “swipe fee ripoff,” MPC said.
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Credit Union Daily: Merchants Payments Group Strongly Critical of NCUA Rule on Non-Interest Charges, Fees; Urges Withdrawal
The Merchants Payments Coalition (MPC) is urging the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) to withdraw its interim final rule on federal credit union non-interest charges and fees, arguing the agency exceeded its statutory authority and improperly sought to preempt state interchange fee laws. In a comment letter submitted to the NCUA, the coalition said the rule raises significant legal and policy concerns, including questions involving federal preemption, antitrust principles and the Administrative Procedure Act.
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Digital Transactions: A Settlement That Doesn't Settle the Argument
Merchants disappointed by the outcome of the case are looking for the court to deny final approval of the settlement. “The vast majority of merchants oppose this proposed settlement,” says Doug Kantor, general counsel at the National Association of Convenience Stores (and MPC Executive Committee member), in a statement. “We expect many more objections to be filed that will present the court with clear evidence of the profound problems with this settlement that would make the already broken credit card market even worse.” “We are hopeful that the judge will refuse to grant final approval, and that merchants will have their day in court,” Kantor adds.
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Mass Market Retailers: Merchants urge NCUA to withdraw flawed rule blocking Illinois swipe fee law
The Merchants Payments Coalition today urged the National Credit Union Administration to withdraw a rule aimed at blocking Illinois’ ban on swipe fees on sales tax and tips, saying the rule is flawed and will drive up prices in Illinois. “The rule raises substantial legal and policy concerns that warrant reconsideration,” MPC said in comments filed with the agency. “It appears to authorize conduct that is difficult to reconcile with established federal antitrust principles, departs from longstanding expectations regarding competitive markets, exceeds NCUA's authority under the Federal Credit Union Act, and adopts an overly broad interpretation of federal credit union preemption.”
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Payments Dive: Merchants blast credit union rule
The NCUA rule raises “significant legal and policy concerns,” the Merchants Payments Coalition wrote Thursday in its comments to NCUA. The preemption effort “appears to authorize conduct that is difficult to reconcile with established federal antitrust principles, departs from longstanding expectations regarding competitive markets, exceeds NCUA’s authority under the Federal Credit Union Act (FCUA), and adopts an overly broad interpretation of federal credit union preemption,” the coalition wrote. The agency’s rule “also rests on an inaccurate understanding of the modern credit and debit card payments ecosystem,” the group added.
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Credit Unions Today: MPC Urges NCUA To Withdraw Illinois Swipe Fee Preemption Rule
The Merchants Payments Coalition (MPC) is urging NCUA to rescind its interim final rule preempting Illinois' Interchange Fee Prohibition Act for federally chartered credit unions, arguing the agency exceeded its authority and adopted the rule without an adequate legal foundation.
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