Saying swipe fees for credit cards in the U.S. are seven times higher than those in Europe, more than 1,600 merchants have reportedly signed a letter urging members of Congress to vote for a bill that would boost competition among credit card networks.
The letter — which was organized by the Merchants Payments Coalition — was addressed to all members of Congress, and the retailers that signed it include Walmart and Target, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday (Sept. 14).
“Swipe fees for credit cards are higher in the United States than anywhere else in the industrialized world — more than seven times as high as Europe,” the letter reads, per the report. “In 2021 alone, U.S. merchants and consumers paid nearly $138 billion in card fees.”
The merchants support a bill introduced in July by Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) and Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.). The Credit Card Competition Act of 2022 would require banks that have more than $100 billion in assets and issue credit cards to enable at least two networks to process them, including one network that’s not one of the two largest — Mastercard or Visa, according to a press release issued by Sen. Durbin.
Read more: Sen. Durbin Wants Another Bite at Card Interchange Fees
Retailers have said that greater competition among credit card networks would lead to lower swipe fees and, in turn, lower prices for consumers.
As PYMNTS reported in May, Visa and Mastercard defended their credit card fees at a Senate hearing, saying the fees are needed to build and maintain a network that is reliable and secure and that competition in the payment industry is fierce, as consumers can use a wide range of payment methods.
Read more: Senate Democrats Grill Visa, Mastercard over Swipe Fees
A representative of a group that advocates for card issuers and networks noted that a similar rule was applied to debit cards a decade ago, according to The Wall Street Journal report.
“The last time we saw a letter like this, retailers were lobbying for the Durbin amendment windfall they did not pass on to consumers, despite testifying that they would,” Electronic Payments Coalition Board Chairman Jeff Tassey said, per the report.
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