The fight over a bill targeting credit card fees pits payment companies against retailers
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A bipartisan push in Washington to clamp down on credit card fees is pitting retailers against network payment processors — and both sides are working hard to gain the attention of consumers.
The Credit Card Competition Act was reintroduced last month in both the House and the Senate, after not being brought up for a vote in either chamber during the previous Congress.
The measure aims to bolster competition for credit card processing networks by requiring big banks to allow at least one network that isn't Visa or Mastercard to be used for their cards. This would give merchants who pay interchange fees a choice they otherwise rarely get.
Amazon, Best Buy, Kroger, Shopify, Target and Walmart are among the list of nearly 2,000 retailers, platforms and small businesses urging lawmakers to pass the bill. Retailers in support of the legislation argue credit card processing costs are hurting consumers by driving up the cost of business, and, in turn, the price shoppers pay at checkout.
On the other side of the fight, major credit card processing networks like Visa, Mastercard, Discover and Capital One say the bill will actually hurt consumers by diminishing popular credit card rewards programs and lessening fraud protections.
Bipartisan support for the bill has surged since it was introduced last year. As of now, there is no vote scheduled on the measure in either chamber of Congress, but there are indications a vote could come by year-end.
Doug Kantor, a member of the Merchants Payments Coalition executive committee, remains «optimistic» that the Credit Card Competition Act could end up as an amendment attached to a larger piece of legislation at some point.
«It's time to inject real competition into the
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