Punchbowl News: Senate Ag Moves on Crypto, Plus Credit Card Wars
"The card industry is trying again to get legal protection while offering little in return to merchants," said Jennifer Hatcher, who serves on the executive committee of the Merchants Payments Coalition.
READ MORE +
Convenience Store News: Retailers Oppose Reported Visa & Mastercard Settlement
According to the MPC, the newly proposed settlement fails to overcome Judge Brodie's reasons for rejecting the last settlement and should therefore also be rejected. "Achieving a settlement that works to reverse current illegal and anticompetitive practices of Visa and Mastercard should be straightforward but this attempt fails once again and should be rejected," MPC Executive Committee member and FMI — the Food Industry Association Chief Public Policy Officer Jennifer Hatcher said. "The courts have emphatically rejected these settlements twice but now the card industry is trying again to get legal protection while offering little in return to merchants. Under this proposal, Visa and Mastercard would get to keep fixing swipe fees while Main Street businesses and customers would pay the price. "It is now clearer than ever that Congress needs to pass the Credit Card Competition Act to fix our nation's broken payments system," Hatcher continued. "Small businesses and American consumers can't afford to keep paying cartel fees on cards that drive up prices by billions of dollars a year."
READ MORE +
Progressive Grocer: Visa, Mastercard Offer Revised Swipe Fee Settlement
“Achieving a settlement that works to reverse current illegal and anticompetitive practices of Visa and Mastercard should be straightforward, but this attempt fails once again and should be rejected,” noted Jennifer Hatcher, executive committee member of the Merchants Payments Coalition and chief public policy officer at Arlington, Va.-based FMI — the Food Industry Association. “The courts have emphatically rejected these settlements twice, but now the card industry is trying again to get legal protection while offering little in return to merchants. Under this proposal, Visa and Mastercard would get to keep fixing swipe fees while Main Street businesses and customers would pay the price.”
READ MORE +
Harlem World: Visa And Mastercard Settle Swipe Fee Lawsuit
The Merchants Payments Coalition criticized the fee reduction as “minimal,” noting that Visa and Mastercard could still raise fees without limitation once temporary reductions expire. The group also argued that merchants have “no choice” but to accept rewards cards, which constitute 85% of all issued cards.
READ MORE +
Merchants Say Reported Credit Card Swipe Fee Settlement Proposal ‘Fails Once Again and Should be Rejected’
MPC said a proposed settlement reportedly expected to be released soon in longstanding antitrust litigation over Visa and Mastercard’s credit card “swipe” fee practices fails to overcome U.S. District Judge Margo Brodie’s reasons for rejecting the last settlement and should also be rejected.
READ MORE +
MPC Hill Blast: Affordability
Affordability has been the talk of the town. You can read it here, here and here. The credit card industry is fighting against affordability as hard as it can.
READ MORE +MPC Hill Blast: 54,000 More Jobs
That is the number of jobs that would be created in just the first year if we finally had competition among credit card networks. You can read it here.
READ MORE +
Convenience Store News: Merchants Group Cites Big Bank Profits in Push for Swipe Fee Reform
Credit and debit card swipe fees boosting big bank profits underscore the need for congressional action on merchant processing costs, according to the Merchants Payments Coalition.
READ MORE +MPC Hill Blast: The Threat to Your Data? Visa Wins the Prize
Starting Oct. 17, Visa began hitting Main Street businesses that won’t give it “comprehensive” data on key transactions with extra swipe fees.
READ MORE +
Loss Prevention Magazine: Cash Visibility Standards: Powering Light in the Darkness
Over twenty US states have introduced legislation and dozens of American cities have enacted “cashless bans.” Combined with record swipe fees reported by the Merchants Payments Coalition for 2025, these factors help explain why cash in circulation has reached a record $2.4 trillion.
READ MORE +