FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: J. Craig Shearman
(202) 257-3678 craig@shearmancommunications.com
WASHINGTON, April 29, 2026 — New financial results reported by Visa show the credit card network is seeing a huge increase in profits fueled partly by “swipe” fees on gasoline and diesel prices, the Merchants Payments Coalition said today. Visa reported Tuesday that net profits for the quarter ending March 31 were up 32% year over year, totaling $6 billion on revenue of $11.2 billion.
“Two weeks ago it was megabanks reporting a spike in profits as they collect a windfall from swipe fees on fuel prices and now we’re seeing the same with the nation’s largest credit card network,” MPC Executive Committee member and National Association of Convenience Stores General Counsel Doug Kantor said. “Americans are struggling to fill their tanks, but banks and card networks are easily filling their coffers as swipe fees rise with each increase in the price of gas and diesel. It’s time for Congress to put an end to the swipe fee ripoff.”
Earlier this month, top credit card issuer JPMorgan Chase and No. 2 issuer Citigroup also reported double-digit year-over-year profit increases.
Based on the results it reported, Visa had a profit margin of 54%, or nearly 20 times the average merchant profit margin of 3%. Mastercard, which will report earnings on Thursday, had a profit margin of 47% as of January. The Visa and Mastercard profits are even higher than the 33% margin at JPMorgan Chase and 24% at Citigroup.
The growing card industry profits are being driven, in part, by higher swipe fees on fuel.
Credit card swipe fees on the average $4.14 gallon of gasoline amounted to 9.8 cents as of April 7, according to MPC’s Fuel Price/Swipe Fee Tracker, while swipe fees on the average $5.65 gallon of diesel were 13.3 cents. Based on average daily fuel consumption and the average swipe fee rate of 2.36%, fees on gas and diesel combined would amount to $58.3 million a day if all fuel purchases were paid for with credit cards. That was up $9 billion a day from when MPC launched the tracker a month earlier, giving card networks and banks an extra $270 million a month.
This week, AAA reported that gas prices hit their highest level in four years at $4.18 per gallon, driving swipe fees even higher to 9.9 cents per gallon.
The swipe fees banks and card networks charge merchants to process credit card purchases are a percentage of the transaction, meaning the amount collected automatically goes up as prices rise. Not all fuel purchases are made with credit cards, but some cards carry swipe fees as high as 4%.
Even before fuel prices began to rise, credit card and debit card swipe fees had jumped 80% since the pandemic and hit a record $198.25 billion in 2025.
The earnings reports come as Congress is considering the Credit Card Competition Act, which President Donald Trump endorsed earlier this year to “stop the out of control Swipe Fee ripoff.”
Swipe fees are most merchants’ highest operating cost after labor and are too much to absorb, driving up prices by more than $1,200 a year for the average family. The fees are rising largely 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 restrict processing to their own networks.
Under the bill, banks with at least $100 billion in assets would 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.
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.
