More than 140 groups voice opposition to Credit Card Competition Act financialregnews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from financialregnews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Longtime credit card interchange critic Sen. Dick Durbin reportedly plans to introduce a bill this week challenging the control Visa and Mastercard have over credit card swipe fees by expanding competition among merchant card-processing networks.
The retail industry, which wants the Federal Reserve to lower a decade-old price cap, has been complaining that higher prices for consumers mean heftier interchange fees. But banks are pointing out that the $10 billion-asset threshold below which financial institutions are exempt from the cap hasn’t been adjusted for inflation.
Interchange fees are applied via a complex system in which the charges vary by merchant, transaction size, the type of card, and the banking institution, among other factors.