Payments Dive: Fed report stirs debit fee debate
The Merchants Payments Coalition pointed to the report as evidence of the need for the Federal Reserve to follow through on a plan to lower the cap on debit card fees, saying the report shows fees charged by banks and networks are not “reasonable and proportional” to their costs, as required by federal law.
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Digital Transactions: The Fed’s Biennial Debit Report Sparks Merchants’ Ire
Merchants’ shouldering of an increasing portion of debit fraud losses is a year’s-long trend that needs to be reversed, says Doug Kantor, a Merchants Payment Coalition executive committee member and general counsel for the National Association of Convenience Stores. “Visa and Mastercard have been pushing more of the fraud burden on merchants since (Regulation II) went into effect and that’s a problem,” Kantor says. “The Fed has not kept up with the facts on the ground [when it comes to regulating debit cards].”
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CPA Practice Advisor: Fed Report Shows Visa, Mastercard Shift More Debit Card Fraud Onto Merchants
“The latest report shows the consequences of the Federal Reserve failing to keep up with its job as a regulator,” said Doug Kantor, Executive Committee member of the Merchant Payments Coalition and General Counsel for the National Association of Convenience Stores. “Rather than updating its regulations, the Fed has allowed Visa and Mastercard to punish merchants with increasing fraud losses, while banks extract huge profits far out of proportion to their costs. It has been nearly 15 years since the Fed wrote its regulations, and this report underscores the long-overdue need for an update to ensure that fees are reasonable and that there are incentives to reduce fraud.”
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Hardware Retailing: Merchants Shoulder More Debit Fraud Burden as Bank Profits Soar, Fed Report Shows
“The latest report shows the consequences of the Federal Reserve failing to keep up with its job as a regulator,” says Doug Kantor, executive committee member of the Merchant Payments Coalition and general counsel for the National Association of Convenience Stores. “Rather than updating its regulations, the Fed has allowed Visa and Mastercard to punish merchants with increasing fraud losses, while banks extract huge profits far out of proportion to their costs. It has been nearly 15 years since the Fed wrote its regulations, and this report underscores the long-overdue need for an update to ensure that fees are reasonable and that there are incentives to reduce fraud.”
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Mass Market Retailers: Merchants call on Fed to implement proposed debit swipe fee cap
The Merchants Payments Coalition and its member trade associations today called on the Federal Reserve to reject banks’ latest effort to abandon a proposal aimed at reducing the billions of dollars in debit card “swipe” fees charged by major banks. Instead, MPC urged the Fed to move forward and implement the long-overdue reduction. “At a time when affordability and rising prices are urgent concerns for American consumers, it is regrettable that financial trade associations appear far more concerned with preserving their ability to charge excessive transaction fees on debit card payments than they are with the economic well-being of their fellow Americans,” the merchant groups said in a letter to the Fed’s Board of Governors. “We urge the Board to reject this latest financial industry stall tactic and to move forward without further delay to bring long-overdue debit fee relief to the American people.”
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The Shelby Report: FMI, Coalition Ask Federal Reserve To Finalize Debit Card Swipe Fee Reform
The Merchants Payments Coalition and its member trade associations today called on the Federal Reserve to reject banks’ latest effort to abandon a proposal aimed at reducing the billions of dollars in debit card “swipe” fees charged by major banks. Instead, MPC urged the Fed to move forward and implement the long-overdue reduction.
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WTTG-TV: Credit Card Swipe Fees
With credit card swipe fees driving up costs about $20 for the average family this holiday season, “That’s like taking a Barbie doll or Lego set out from under the Christmas tree," MPC Executive Committee member and National Association of Convenience Store General Counsel Doug Kantor says.
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Politico Morning Money: Frustration over Fees
The Merchant Payments Coalition, a group of trade associations focused on fighting unfair debit and credit card fees, sent a letter to the Fed — provided exclusively to MM — today, urging the Board to reject the American Bankers Association’s request to delay lowering the regulated rate for debit card swipe fees.
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Convenience Store News: Retailer Groups Urge Federal Reserve to Adopt Swipe Fee Decrease
The Merchants Payments Coalition (MPC) encouraged the Fed to finally adopt the reduction instead, citing there is no need to wait for court action or for new data. "At a time when affordability and rising prices are urgent concerns for American consumers, it is regrettable that financial trade associations appear far more concerned with preserving their ability to charge excessive transaction fees on debit card payments than they are with the economic well-being of their fellow Americans," the merchant groups said in a letter to the Fed's Board of Governors. "We urge the board to reject this latest financial industry stall tactic and to move forward without further delay to bring long-overdue debit fee relief to the American people."
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HBS Dealer: NLBMDA continues swipe-fee battle
Working in partnership with the Merchant Payments Coalition, NLBMDA is advocating for a settlement that delivers meaningful, long-term improvements and greater balance in the payments system, ensuring that dealers have a fairer opportunity to manage costs and reinvest in their employees, operations, and local communities.
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