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The government said in a statement it "expects other credit majorities of Democrats (53 percent), Independents (60
card companies to take similar actions to lower fees for percent) and Republicans (58 percent).
small businesses, and that payment processors will pass
these reductions on to small businesses." Here’s the statistic I found most telling, however: 57
percent of consumers told Morning Consult they do not
Not all small businesses will get the break, and each trust that merchants who wind up benefiting from their
business will need to qualify with each network new-found routing choice will pass on their cost savings
individually. The qualification threshold is yearly Visa to customers.
credit card transactions totaling less than $300,000 (or
about $221,000 U.S. dollars) and $175,000 ($129,000 U.S.) in That’s because consumers remember that most merchants
Mastercard transactions. didn’t bother to pass along savings from the Durbin
Amendment cap on debit interchange. I credit the card
Ongoing assault on interchange brands, their bank partners and allies with keeping that

Canada isn't the first country to regulate interchange. fact alive and on the minds of consumers.
The European Union capped interchange (regardless of
the merchant's size) at 0.3 percent for credit cards and 0.2 Sen. Durbin said he plans to reintroduce the Credit Card
percent for debit cards. In Australia, credit card interchange Competition Act during the current Congress, but he hasn't
is capped at 0.88 percent; debit card interchange cannot yet. Even if he does, chances of such legislation passing in
exceed 0.22 percent. a divided Congress are slim. True, Sen. Durbin did enlist
one Senate Republican to back the bill last year, but there
In the United States, interchange on retail consumer credit are 222 Republicans in the House, a dozen or so of which
card transactions runs about 2.2 percent. would also have to back the plan to secure passage. And
that’s not going to happen.
Debit card interchange has been regulated in the United
States for more than a decade at the direction of the Durbin Patti Murphy is senior editor at The Green Sheet, and president of
Amendment to the Dodd-Frank Act. And now, Senator ProScribes Ink. The self-described payments maven of the fourth estate,
Richard Durbin, the Illinois Democrat who authored that Patti is also co-host of the Merchant Sales Podcast.
amendment, has credit card interchange in his sights. At
this point, however, it seems like he’s not doing more than
posturing.
Snapshot of Upcoming Events
Last year, Sen. Durbin, introduced the Credit Card
Competition Act. Its primary mandate: that merchants be
given access to networks other than Visa and Mastercard
for routing credit card payments. The assumption being
there are less expensive networks for merchants to choose
from. The proposed bill, co-sponsored by Senator Roger
Marshall, R-Kan., received immediate blowback.

The legislation, as written last year, would apply only to
banks and credit unions with $100 billion in assets. Yet, August 15- 16, 2023
the president of the National Association of Federal Credit Caesars Palace, Augustus Ballrooms Las Vegas
Unions, which represents some of the smallest credit
unions in the country, blasted the proposal in an editorial www.allwirelessexpo.com/register
in RealClearMarkets.com. He described the legislation
as “essentially a back-door price control on credit card
interchange fees." And he warned of potentially dire
consequences if merchants "choose cheaper, untested and
less secure credit card networks.”

The Electronic Payments Coalition, a vocal opponent, sent
a letter of opposition to lawmakers signed by over 170
organizations.

Even consumers are leery. Polling last fall by Morning October 31 - November 2, 2023
Consult found that 74 percent of adults believe changing
the technology that credit card companies use would affect Omni Resorts, La Costa, Carlsbad
the economy. Sixty-one percent said they didn’t expect any https://westernstatesacquirers.org/attend/
benefits from overhauling the credit card networks, with

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