Sep 19, 2023

Retailers call on Congress to lower credit card swipe fees

The National Retail Federation unveiled a six-figure advocacy campaign to urge members of Congress to stand up for Main Street over Wall Street in support of the Credit Card Competition Act.

The announcement follows new consumer data that found less than one-quarter (21%) of consumers believe that credit card companies are honest and trustworthy when they advocate before Congress on the fees they charge retailers to accept their cards.

Swipe fees are most merchants’ highest costs after labor and drive up prices paid by consumers by more than $1,000 a year for the average family, according to NRF. The Credit Card Competition Act would require that there be at least two competing processing networks enabled on each card, potentially saving American businesses and consumers an estimated $15 billion per year.

The ad campaign is set to launch Monday, Sept. 18, and run through Sept. 22 on ConnectedTV, social media, online and mobile ads.

U.S. retailers and merchants pay the highest swipe fees in the world — $126.4 billion in swipe fees were paid by businesses for credit card transactions in 2022, a 20% increase from the previous year.