FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: J. Craig Shearman
(202) 257-3678 craig@shearmancommunications.com
WASHINGTON, Sept. 9, 2026 — The Merchants Payments Coalition welcomed President Donald Trump’s latest call for credit card swipe fee reform, which took place tonight at the Republican midterm convention in Dallas.
“We will cut out-of-control credit card swipe fees, saving the average family at least $1,200 per year,” Trump said during his keynote address at the convention. “We will not allow Americans to pay seven to eight times more for those fees than they do in any other country. We pay seven, eight and nine times more than they do.”
“President Trump is right that dealing with credit card swipe fees would be one of the most effective ways to help American families,” MPC Executive Committee member and National Association of Convenience Stores General Counsel Doug Kantor said. “Credit card swipe fees drive up costs for small businesses and prices for American families every day. Bringing competition to these constantly rising fees would provide relief at a time when it is badly needed. We appreciate that this is a priority for President Trump. It’s time for Congress to take action.”
Tonight was the third time this year that Trump has addressed swipe fees. He said in January that the bipartisan Credit Card Competition Act is needed “to stop the out of control Swipe Fee ripoff” and made similar remarks in August. In addition, Vice President J.D. Vance was a cosponsor of the CCCA while a member of the Senate. And last week, Small Business Administration Administrator Kelly Loeffler said she is concerned about “fees that fall disproportionately on small businesses” when asked about swipe fees on Fox Business.
The CCCA has growing support across the political spectrum in Congress, where Senate Banking Committee members Sens. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, and Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., plus Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, became cosponsors in early August. The three joined existing sponsors Sens. Roger Marshall, R-Kan.; Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Peter Welch, D-Vt. There are eight sponsors in the House, led by Reps. Lance Gooden, R-Texas, and Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif.
Credit card and debit card swipe fees have risen 80% since the pandemic and hit a record $198.25 billion in 2025. They are most merchants’ highest operating cost after labor, driving up prices by more than $1,200 a year for the average family.
Swipe fees for U.S. Visa and Mastercard credit cards average 2.36% of the transaction, which is the highest percentage in the industrialized world and compares with a limit of 0.3% for credit cards and 0.2% for debit cards in the European Union.
The fees are rising because of lack of competition. Visa and Mastercard, which control 80% of the market, each centrally set the swipe fee rates charged by all banks that issue cards under their brands and also restrict processing to their own networks. The CCCA would address that by requiring banks with at least $100 billion in assets to enable credit cards to be processed over at least one unaffiliated network like Star, NYCE or Shazam in addition to Visa or Mastercard. The measure is expected to result in competition over fees, security and service that would save merchants and their customers $17 billion a year and result in the gain of 54,000 retail jobs in the first year alone.
About MPC
The Merchants Payments Coalition represents retailers, supermarkets, convenience stores, gasoline stations, online merchants and others fighting for a more competitive and transparent card system that is fair to consumers and merchants. Follow MPC on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn for the latest on swipe fees.
