Gifts and Decorative Accessories: Banks Pocket 'Enormous' Third Quarter Profits as Swipe Fees Lawsuit Awaits Supreme Court
“Wall Street megabanks are making enormous profits by gouging consumers and Main Street merchants at the same time,” MPC Executive Committee member and National Association of Convenience Stores General Counsel Doug Kantor said. “This is a recurring pattern. Giant banks pretend that high fees on Main Street help consumers but just the opposite is true.”
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Chain Store Age: Retail Group Renews Call for Swipe Fee Legislation
The Merchants Payment Coalition is renewing calls for Congress to pass the Credit Card Competition Act to address swipe fees amid record profits from card-issuing banks.
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Merchants Say Rising Megabank Profits Show Need to Address Swipe Fees
Huge profits reported by some of the nation’s largest card-issuing banks as credit card swipe fees continue to rise show the need for Congress to pass the Credit Card Competition Act, the Merchants Payments Coalition said.
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Las Vegas Sun: Legislation Aimed at Cutting Credit Card Fees Could Adversely Affect Las Vegas Tourism
Dylan Jeon, vice president of legal affairs for the National Retail Federation (and MPC Executive Committee member), said nothing in the proposed bill specifically mentions rewards programs. “At the end of the day, these programs aren’t regulated by any agency or anything like that,” he said. “It’s totally at the control and discretion of the banks or the airline that manages them.”
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Minneapolis Star Tribune: Small Businesses and Shoppers Grapple With Conundrum of Credit Card Swipe Fees
"Business owners, local restaurant owners, all those sorts of folks have seen this huge cost of theirs, which on average is their second-highest operating cost already, just explode," said Doug Kantor, general counsel of the National Association of Convenience Stores (and MPC Executive Committee member).
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Digital Transactions: A Dose of Reality on the Broken Credit Card Market
Op-ed by MPC Executive Committee member and NACS General Counsel responds to card industry claims about the Credit Card Competition Act, saying "all of them are wrong."
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Wenatchee Business Journal: Proposed Credit Card Competition Act Aims to Tackle Rising Swipe Fees
A recent survey conducted by the Merchants Payments Coalition indicates that over 65% of those surveyed support the Credit Card Competition Act. This level of support underscores the growing concern among businesses and consumers about rising swipe fees.
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WGN-AM: Small Business Owners Call for Clampdown on Credit Card Surcharges
MPC Executive Committee member and NACS General Counsel Doug Kantor is interviewed live about rising swipe fees and the need to pass the Credit Card Competition Act
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London Daily Mail: America's $93 Billion 'Swipe Fee' Ripoff, Small Business Owners Call for Clampdown on Credit Card Charges Which Are Pushing Up the Cost of Your Groceries
The fees are a percentage of a transaction amount so they automatically increase when there's inflation,' said Doug Kantor from the Merchants Payments Coalition. 'The fees go up and that acts as a multiplier of that inflationary effect because merchants then have to increase their prices. They have to chase their tail to keep up with the increases.'
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Reading Eagle: Grocers Compete; Why Can't Credit Card Companies?
Credit and debit card swipe fees have more than doubled over the past decade and skyrocketed $22 billion last year to a record $160.7 billion, including $3.4 billion in Pennsylvania. They are most merchants’ highest operating cost after labor and drive up prices by more than $1,000 a year for the average family, according to the Merchants Payments Coalition.
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