Be Part of the Biggest Consumer Petition Drive in American History

via NACS Press Release

NACS launches phase two of a consumer petition campaign to tell Congress, ‘’Stop unfair credit card fees.’

ALEXANDRIA, VA – More than 8,000 retail stores have signed up as part of the biggest consumer petition drive in American history. These retailers and their customers are telling Congress, “It’s time to reform unfair credit/debit card swipe fees.”  Now, NACS is empowering other retailers to join the campaign by visiting www.nacsonline.com/fightswipefees.This fall, 7-Eleven franchisees delivered nearly 1.7 million customer signatures to Congress — the largest number of signatures collected for a public policy issue in history — urging members to “Stop unfair credit card fees.” 

Beginning December 15, NACS is coordinating an unprecedented campaign to generate millions more signatures from convenience customers, encouraging Congress to reform unfair credit and debit card interchange, or “swipe,” fees. 

The campaign, the second phase of the industry’s consumer petition campaign, was announced on October 21 at the NACS Show in Las Vegas and immediately generated the participation of thousands of stores throughout the country,.

Both 7-Eleven CEO Joe DePinto and Alimentation Couche-Tard CEO Alain Bouchard, who led his company’s credit card interchange petition drive that collected 400,000-plus customer signatures at its Circle K stores, urged retailers to launch their own petition drive in their stores in a video introduced at the NACS Show. 

NACS has made joining this effort easy. All the materials retailers need to participate in the latest petition campaign are available free of charge at http://www.nacsonline.com/fightswipefees. These materials can be downloaded and sent to a local printer and then displayed in stores. 

If you have not already signed up, visit www.nacsonline.com/fightswipefees today.

Visa, MasterCard Interchange Definitions

Want to know everything about Interchange?

The below glossory of terms were extracted from the May 23, 2008 second consolidated amended class action complaint re Payment Card Interchange Fee and Merchant-Discount Antitrust Litigation, filed in the U.S. District Court Eastern District of New York.  These definitions of key terms associated with the antitrust litigation are helpful, especially if any defense attorneys or advocacy groups are unfamiliar with interchange issues.

DEFINITIONS as used in this Complaint, the following terms are defined as: 

• a. “Access Device” means any device, including but not limited to a Payment Card or microchip, that may be used by a consumer to initiate a General Purpose Card or Debit Card transaction.

b. “Acquiring Bank” means a member of Visa and/or MasterCard that acquires payment transactions from merchants and acts as a liaison between the merchant, the Issuing Bank, and the Payment-Card Network to assist in processing the payment transaction. Visa and MasterCard rules require that an acquiring Bank be a party to every merchant contract. In a typical payment transaction, when a customer presents a Visa or MasterCard card for payment, the merchant relays the transaction information to the Acquiring Bank. The Acquiring Bank then contacts the Issuing Bank via the network for authorization based on available credit or funds. Acquiring Banks compete with each other for the right to acquire payment transactions from merchants but do not compete on the basis of the interchange fee, which is the subject of this Complaint.

c. “All-Outlets Rule” is a rule of the Visa and MasterCard Networks that requires a merchant with multiple outlets to accept Visa or MasterCard, respectively, in all of its outlets, even if those outlets are owned by a separate corporate entity, operated under a different brand name, or employ a different business model.

d. “Anti-Steering Restraints” are the rules of the Visa and MasterCard Networks that forbid merchants from incenting consumers to use less expensive payment forms, including: the No-Surcharge Rule; the No-Minimum-Purchase Rule; and the Networks’ so-called “antidiscrimination rules,” which prohibit merchants from treating any other Payment Card or medium more advantageously than the Defendants’cards. The Defendants’ standard-form-merchant agreements proscribe steering by preventing merchants from establishing procedures that favor, discourage, or discriminate against the use of any particular Card.

e. “Assessment” refers to an amount computed and charged by the Networks on each transaction amount to the Acquiring and Issuing Banks.

f. “Authorization” is the process by which a merchant determines whether a cardholder is authorized by his or her Issuing Bank to make a particular transaction. The merchant sends the cardholder’s information to its Acquiring Bank or a Third-Party Processor, which sends it to Visa or MasterCard, which then sends it to the issuer or the issuer’s processor, to obtain authorization. If authorization is given, the process is repeated in reverse.

g. “Charge Card” or “Travel & Entertainment Card” (T&E) is an access device, usually a Payment Card, enabling the holder to purchase goods and services on credit to be paid on behalf of the holder by the issuer of such device. Typically, the contractual terms of such cards require that payment from the holder to the issuer be made in full each month, for all payments made on behalf of the cardholder by the issuer during the preceding month. The issuer does not extend credit to the holder beyond the date of the monthly statement, nor does it impose interest charges on the balance due except as a penalty for late payment. Examples of Charge Cards are the American Express Green, Gold, Platinum, and Centurion cards as well as the Diners Club and Carte Blanche cards issued by Citibank.

h. “Credit Card” is an access device, usually a Payment Card, enabling the holder to (i) effect transactions on credit for goods and services purchased, which are paid on behalf of the holder by the issuer of such devices; or (ii) obtain cash with credit extended by the issuer. Credit Cards permit consumers to borrow the money for a retail purchase from the card issuer and to repay the debt over time, according to the provisions of a revolving-credit agreement between the cardholder and the issuer. Examples of Credit Cards are the Visa and MasterCard Credit Cards issued by members of the Defendant Bank card networks, as well as the Discover and Private Issue cards issued by Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter & Co., and the Optima and Blue-type cards issued by American Express. Proprietary cards of individual merchants for use only at particular merchants’ outlets are not included in this definition.

i. “Debit Card” is an access device, usually a Payment Card, enabling the holder, among other things, to effect a cash withdrawal from the holder’s depository bank account, either at an Automated Teller Machine (“ATM”) or a point of sale.

j. “Float” refers to the expense the Issuing Bank incurs by extending interest-free credit to the consumer for the grace period between the date of purchase and the date of payment.

k. “General Purpose Cards” collectively refers to Credit Cards and Charge Cards.

l. “Grace Period” refers to the time between a consumer’s purchase and the date on which the consumer’s payment is due to the Issuing Bank, during which time the consumer pays no interest.

m. The “Honor All Cards” Rules are rules of the Visa and MasterCard Networks that require any merchant that accepts Visa or MasterCard Payment Cards to accept all Payment Cards that are issued on that Network.

n. “Interchange Fee” in the United States General Purpose Card Network Services and Debit Card Network Services markets means a fee that merchants pay to the Issuing Bank through the Network and the Acquiring Bank for each retail transaction in which the Issuer’s card is used as a payment device at one of the Acquirer’s merchant accounts.  The Interchange Fee is deducted by the Issuing Bank from amounts otherwise owed to Class members on Payment Card transactions, and constitutes a component of and a floor for the Merchant-Discount Fee. The following example illustrates how the Visa and MasterCard Interchange Fees work. A customer presents a Visa or MasterCard card to a merchant as a payment method. The merchant contacts the Acquiring Bank, either directly or through a Third-Party Processor, to authorize the transaction. The Acquiring Bank submits the transaction to the Network. The Network relays the transaction information to the Issuing Bank or the Issuing Bank’s Third-Party Processor, which approves the transaction if the customer has a sufficient line of credit or available funds. If the transaction is authorized through the Network, the Issuing Bank pays the Acquiring Bank the payment amount minus the “Interchange Fee,” which is fixed by the member banks of Visa and MasterCard. The Acquiring Bank then pays the merchant the payment amount minus the Interchange Fee and other charges for processing the transaction. The total fee charged the merchant is often referred to as the “Merchant-Discount Fee.” The Interchange Fee is the largest component of the Merchant-Discount Fee. Visa Interchange Fees are fixed periodically by Visa member banks, acting through the Visa Board of Directors. MasterCard Interchange Fees are fixed periodically by the MasterCard member banks, acting through the MasterCard Board of Directors. “Merchant-Discount Fee” means the the same Third-Party Processor.

p. “Issuing Bank” means a member of Visa and/or MasterCard that issues Visa and/or MasterCard branded Payment Cards to consumers for their use as payment systems and access devices. Issuing Banks compete with each other to issue Visa and MasterCard cards to consumers. Visa and MasterCard rules require that all member banks issue, respectively, Visa and MasterCard Payment Cards.

q. “Merchant-Discount Fee” is the total sum that is deducted from the amount of money a merchant receives in the settlement of Visa and/or MasterCard transactions. The largest component of the Merchant-Discount Fee is the Interchange Fee.

r. “Miscellaneous Exclusionary Restraints” refer collectively to the All-Outlets Rule, the No-Bypass Rule, and the No-Multi-Issuer Rule.

s. “Network Services” means the services and infrastructure that Visa and MasterCard and their members provide to merchants through which payment transactions are conducted, including authorization, clearance, and settlement of transactions, and those similar services offered by American Express and Discover. As they currently are offered by Visa and MasterCard and their member banks, Network Services include Network-Processing Services and the Visa and MasterCard Payment-Card Systems that facilitate acceptance of Visa and MasterCard Payment Cards.

t. “Network-Processing Services” are the services that are or may be used for authorizing, clearing, and settling Visa and MasterCard Credit and Debit Card transactions.

u. “No-Minimum-Purchase Rule” is a rule of the Visa and MasterCard Networks that prohibits merchants from imposing minimum-purchase amounts for Visa and MasterCard Credit-Card purchases.

v. “No-Bypass Rule” is a rule of the Visa and MasterCard Networks that prohibits merchants and member banks from bypassing the Visa or MasterCard system (thereby avoiding the supracompetitive Interchange Fees) in order to clear, authorize, or settle Credit Card transactions even if the Issuing and Acquiring Banks are the same, or even if an independent processor has agreements with both the Issuing and Acquiring Banks on any given transaction.

w. “No-Multi-Issuer Rule” is a rule of the Visa and MasterCard Networks respectively, that prohibits Visa and MasterCard transactions from also being able to be processed over other Networks.

x. “No-Surcharge Rule” is a rule of the Visa and MasterCard Networks that forbids merchants from charging cardholders a surcharge on their Payment-Card transactions to reflect cost differences among various payment methods. For example, merchants are prohibited from surcharging cardholders who use a Visa Credit Card rather than a Discover-branded Credit Card, or use a Premium Credit Card rather than a standard Credit Card, or use a Credit Card rather than another form of payment.

y. “Offline Signature Debit Card” or “Offline Debit Card” is a Debit Card with which the cardholder authorizes a withdrawal from his or her bank account usually by presenting the card at the POS and signing a receipt. Offline Signature Debit Card transactions are processed as Credit Card transactions. Examples of Offline Signature Debit Cards include Visa’s “Visa Check” product and MasterCard’s “Debit MasterCard” product.

z. “Online PIN-Debit Card” or “PIN-Debit Card” is a Debit Card with which the cardholder authorizes a withdrawal from his or her bank account by swiping her card at the POS and entering a Personal Identification Number (“PIN”). PIN-Debit-Card networks grew out of regional ATM networks and are therefore processed differently than Offline transactions. Examples of Online PIN-Debit-Card networks include Interlink, Maestro, NYCE, and Pulse.

aa. A “Premium Card” is a General Purpose Card that carries a higher Interchange Fee than a Standard Card and is required by a network to carry a certain level of rewards or incentives to the cardholder. Visa’s “Signature” and “Traditional Rewards” card products and MasterCard’s “World” card product are examples of Premium Cards.

bb. “On-Us Transactions” are transactions in which the Acquiring Bank and the Issuing Bank are the same. Even when the Issuing and Acquiring Banks are identical, Visa and MasterCard require that the Issuing Bank charge an Interchange Fee to the merchant.

cc. “Payment Card” refers to a plastic card that enables consumers to make purchases from merchants that accept the consumer’s Payment Card.  The term “Payment Card” refers to several different types of cards, including, General-Purpose Cards, Debit Cards, Travel & Entertainment Cards, stored-value cards, and merchant-proprietary cards.

dd. Although “Payment Cards” are a subset of “Access Devices”, the two terms are used interchangeably herein, because despite evolving technology, Payment Cards continue to constitute the vast majority of Access Devices.

ee. “Payment-Card-System Services” means the standard-setting functions performed by Payment-Card Networks. Payment-Card-System Services encompasses the brand of the particular card program, the rules and protocols for providing merchant acceptance of and conducting Payment-Card transactions under that brand, and the rules and protocols for conducting transactions under that brand. The four leading providers of Payment-Card-System Services are Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express.

ff. “Payment-Guarantee Services” refers to a service that a merchant might purchase to insure the merchant against Credit- or Debit-Card fraud, check fraud, and other forms of payment fraud, and/or assists the merchant in minimizing the costs of such fraud.

gg. “Settlement” is the process by which the merchant is reimbursed for a Payment Card transaction. While Visa and MasterCard rules require that an Acquiring Bank be a party to all merchant card-acceptance agreements, merchants often use Third-Party Processors to process these transactions. The Acquiring Bank or its processor credits the merchant’s bank account with the amount paid by the cardholder less the Merchant-Discount fee, the largest component of which is the Interchange Fee, and then transmits the transaction data to Visa or MasterCard, which sends it to the Issuing Bank or its Third-Party Processor. The Issuing Bank then sends payment to the Acquiring Bank through Visa or MasterCard (and possibly the Acquirer’s processor). In a Credit Card or Offline Debit Card transaction, settlement occurs two to four days after authorization and clearing. In a PIN-Debit transaction, all three processes occur in the same electronic transaction virtually instantaneously.

hh. “Third-Party Processor” is a firm, other than Visa, MasterCard, a member bank, or an entity affiliated with a member bank, that performs the authorization, clearing, and settlement functions of a Visa or MasterCard Payment-Card transaction on behalf of a merchant or a member bank. Examples of Third-Party Processors include First Data and Transfirst.

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PBS Frontline: The Card Game

Complete info on the PBS Frontline segment called: The Card Game”

Click here to watch

“As credit card companies face rising public anger, new regulation from Washington and staggering new rates of default and bankruptcy, FRONTLINE correspondent Lowell Bergman investigates the future of the massive consumer loan industry and its impact on a fragile national economy.”

THE FIGHT OVER INTERCHANGE FEES: “Interchange fees are now the central issue in what is being called the largest private antitrust litigation in U.S. history.  Five years ago, Mitch Goldstone, an independent owner of scanmyphotos.com, an online photo service company, was struggling to keep his Southern California shop afloat. He began scrutinizing every expense and revenue stream of his small business. When he realized that an already costly expense — interchange fees – was increasing, he was livid.  “It got to the point where I had just a few employees and things were looking really bleak,” said Goldstone. “Interchange fees were the one expense that was going up, no matter what I did.”  In 2005, Goldstone (PDF) and more than 30 other merchants filed antitrust lawsuits in U.S District Court against Visa, MasterCard and several of their member banks, accusing them of breaching federal antitrust law by fixing the prices on interchange fees.”

Tricks and Traps of the Card Game

Credit Unions

Why Not Cap Interest Rates?

The Military’s War on Debt

The Changes Ahead

Pending Legislation

Is a New Agency Needed?

The Changing Landscape

Payday Loans — A Primer

The Industry’s Lobbying & Financial Clout

The Fight Over Interchange Fees

A New Consumer Protection Agency?

What’s the Consumer’s Responsibility?

South Korea: A Nation Living Off Credit

Europe’s Credit/Debt Situation

PBS FRONTLINE CORRESPONDENT LOWELL BERGMAN INVESTIGATES CONSUMER LOAN INDUSTRY

FRONTLINE Presents
THE CARD GAME
Tuesday, November 24, 2009, at 9 P.M. ET on PBS

Watch VIDEO

www.pbs.org/frontline/creditcards

As credit card companies face rising public anger, new regulation from Washington and staggering new rates of default and bankruptcy, FRONTLINE correspondent Lowell Bergman investigates the future of the massive consumer loan industry and its impact on a fragile national economy.

In The Card Game, a follow-up to the Secret History of the Credit Card and a joint project with The New York Times airing Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2009, at 9 P.M. ET on PBS (check local listings), Bergman and the Times talk to industry insiders, lobbyists, politicians and consumer advocates as they square off over attempts to reform the way the industry has done business for decades.

“The card issuers could do anything they want,” Robert McKinley, CEO of CardWeb.com, tells FRONTLINE of the industry’s unchecked power over consumers. “They could change your interest rate. They could impose an annual fee. They could close your account.” High interest rates along with more and more penalty fees drove up profits for the industry, Bergman finds, as the banks followed the lead of an aggressive upstart: Providian Bank. In an exclusive interview with FRONTLINE, former Providian CEO Shailesh Mehta tells Bergman how his company successfully targeted vulnerable low-income customers whom Providian called “the unbanked.”

“They’re lower-income people-bad credits, bankrupts, young credits, no credits,” Mehta says. Providian also innovated by offering “free” credit cards that carried heavy hidden fees. “I used to use the word ‘penalty pricing’ or ‘stealth pricing,'” Mehta tells FRONTLINE. “When people make the buying decision, they don’t look at the penalty fees because they never believe they’ll be late. They never believe they’ll be over limit, right? … Our business took off. … We were making a billion dollars a year.”

It took the economic collapse in the fall of 2008 to set the stage for potentially historic change in the consumer credit business. President Obama and his team pushed through a credit card reform bill in May, and they’re now looking to establish a new Consumer Finance Protection Agency. But the banking and financial services industries contribute huge amounts of money to Congress — and the jury is still out on whether the new regulations can pass. “It’s a step in the right direction, but it’s a modest step,” says Harvard law professor Elizabeth Warren. “It’s a set of very discrete new laws. And the credit industry instantly set to work on how they could run around them. By itself, that set of rules won’t change the game.”

“It’s hard for them to get a bill through the U.S. Senate when the industry is pouring money into Washington,” says Martin Eakes of the Center for Responsible Lending of the banks’ political clout. “As Sen. [Dick] Durbin from Chicago recently said, ‘The banks, even as unpopular as they are right now in this crisis, still own this place.'”

The Card Game is a FRONTLINE co-production with Cam Bay Productions and The New York Times. The film is written and produced by Lowell Bergman and Oriana Zill de Granados. The correspondent is Lowell Bergman. FRONTLINE is produced by WGBH Boston and is broadcast nationwide on PBS. Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers. Major funding for FRONTLINE is provided by The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Additional funding is provided by the Park Foundation. FRONTLINE is closed-captioned for deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers and described for people who are blind or visually impaired by the Media Access Group at WGBH. FRONTLINE is a registered trademark of the WGBH Educational Foundation. The executive producer of FRONTLINE is David Fanning.

Source: PBS Press release

Urge Your Legistlator To Add “Interchange” to Banking Bill

Recommend: retailers and merchants urged to ask Sen Dodd to include interchange fee reform in banking bill, here is how:

The voice from actual constituents for each Banking Committee member can make a difference. Explain and personalize why merchant interchange “swipe” fees are an unfair and a hidden tax.  Ask why the rates in the U.S. are three-time that of other industrialized nations and urge that among any credit card reform is that interchange fees be included. Write letters to the editor.  Make sure your lawmakers and local media know the facts about interchange fees and how much they are costing retailers and consumers [unfaircreditcardfees.com].

Stop Unfair Credit Card Fees  Tell Your Elected Representatives To Act On Interchange Fees

Credit card fees known as interchange are hidden in the cost of nearly everything consumers buy. In 2008 alone, American consumers paid over $48 billion in credit card interchange fees. Even consumers who don’t use plastic pay more through higher prices. Visa issuers collectively set credit card interchange fees in secret and MasterCard issuers separately do the same. The fees can’t be negotiated and are not adequately disclosed to merchants or consumers.

Tell your elected representatives to stop the price-fixing by the credit card industry by providing an open and transparent process to negotiate credit card interchange fees.

Send your message now.

Who to reach on the Banking Committee:

Majority Members

Chris Dodd (D-Conn); Hartford Office: 30 Lewis Street, Suite 101, Hartford, CT 06103; Tel: (860) 258-6940 Fax: (860) 258-6958

Tim Johnson (D-SD); Banking Legislative Assistant (LA) Laura Swanson, Email: laura_swanson@johnson.senate.gov, Sioux Falls Office: 5015 South Bur Oak Place, Sioux Falls, SD 57108; Tel: (605) 332-8896 Fax: (605) 332-2824

Jack Reed (D-RI); Banking LA: Kara Stein
Email: kara_stein@reed.senate.gov; Providence Office: U.S. Federal Court House, One West Exchange Street, Room 408, Providence, RI 02903; Tel: (401) 528-5200 Fax: (401) 528-5242

Chuck Schumer (D-NY); Banking LA: Jonah Crane, Email: Jonah_crane@schumer.senate.gov; Albany Office: Leo O’Brien Building, Room 420, Albany, NY 12207, Tel: (518) 431-407 Fax: (518) 431-4076

Evan Bayh (D-IN); Banking LA: Ellen Chube, Email: Ellen_Chube@Bayh.senate.gov, Indianapolis Office: West Market Tower, 10 West Market Street, Suite 1650, Indianapolis, IN 46204; Tel: (317) 554-0750 Fax: (317) 554-0760

Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Banking LA: Michael Passante, Email: Michael_passante@menendez.senate.gov; Newark Office: One Gateway Center, 11th Floor, Newark, NJ 07102-5257; Tel: (973) 645-3030 Fax: (973) 645-0502

Daniel Akaka (D-HI), Banking LA: Matt Pippin
Email:matt_pippin@akaka.senate.gov; Honolulu Office: Prince Kuhio Federal Building, 300 Ala Moana Boulevard, Room 3-106, Honolulu, HI 96850 P.O. Box 50144, Honolulu, HI 96850; Tel: (808) 522-8970 Fax: (808) 545-4683

Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Banking LA: Patrick Johnson, Email: patrick_johnson@brown.senate.gov; Cleveland Office: 1301 East Ninth Street, Suite 1710, Cleveland, OH 44114, Tel: (216) 522-7272 Fax: (216) 522-2239

Jon Tester (D-MT), Banking LA: Jason Rosenberg, Email: Jason_rosenberg@tester.senate.gov; Helena Office: Capital One Center, 208 North Montana Avenue, Suite 202, Helena, MT 59601; Tel: (406) 449-5401 Fax: (406) 449-5462

Herb Kohl (D-WI), Banking LA: Hilary Swav
Email: Hilary_swav@kohl.senate.gov, Madison Office: 14 West Mifflin Street, Suite 207, Madison, WI 53703; Tel: (608) 264-5338 Fax: (608) 264-5473,

Mark Warner (D-VA), Banking LA: Nathan Steinwald, Email: Nathan_steinwald@warner.senate.gov; Richmond Office: 919 East Main Street, Suite 630, Richmond, VA 23112, Tel: (804) 775-2314 Fax: (804) 775-2319

Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Banking LA: Andrew Green, Email: Andrew_green@merkley.senate.gov; Portland Office: One World Trade Center, 121 SW Salmon Street, Suite 1400, Portland, OR 97204 P.O. Box 29136, Portland, OR 97296, Tel: (503) 326-3386 Fax: (503) 326-2900

Michael Bennet (D-CO), Banking LA: Brian Appel, Email: brian_appel@bennet.senate.gov, Denver Office: 2300 15th Street, Suite 450, Denver, CO 80202, Tel: (303) 455-7600 Fax: (303) 455-8851

Minority Members

Richard C. Shelby (R-AL), Banking LA: Graham Smith, Email: graham_smith@shelby.senate.gov; Birmingham Office: Robert S. Vance Federal Building, 1800 Fifth Avenue North, Room 321,
Birmingham, AL 35203, Tel: (205) 731-1384 Fax: (205) 731-1386

Bob Corker (R-TN), Banking LA: Courtney Geduldig, Email:courtney_geduldig@corker.senate.gov; Memphis Office: 100 Peabody Place, Suite 1125, Memphis, TN 38103, Tel: (901) 683-1910 Fax: (901) 575-3528

Jim DeMint (R-SC), Banking LA: Hap Rigby
Email: hap_rigby@demint.senate.gov; Columbia Office: 1901 Main Street, Suite 1475, Columbia, SC 29201, Tel: (803) 771-6112 Fax: (803) 771-6455

Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), Austin Office:Federal Building, 300 East Eighth Street, Suite 961, Austin, TX 78701; Tel: (512) 916-5834 Fax: (512) 916-5839

Mike Crapo (R-ID), Banking LA: Gregg Richard
Email: Gregg_richard@crapo.senate.gov, Boise Office: 251 E. Front St., Suite 205, Boise, ID 83702; Tel: (208) 334-1776 Fax: (208) 334-9044

Others: Re-election in 2010

Democrates
Byron Dorgan (D-ND), Banking LA: Allen Huffman, Email: Allen_huffman@dorgan.senate.gov; Bismark Office: 312 Federal Building PO Box 2579, Bismarck, ND 58502; Tel: (701) 250-4618 Fax (701) 250-4484

Russ Feingold (D-WI), Milwaukee Office: 517 East Wisconsin Ave., Room 408, Milwaukee, WI 53202-4504; Tel: (414) 276-7282 Fax (414) 276-7284

Kristen Gillibrand (D-NY), Banking LA: Kevin Fink, Email: Kevin_fink@gillibrand.senate.gov; New York City Office: 780 Third Avenue, Suite 2601, New York, New York 10017;
Tel. (212) 688-6262, Fax (212) 688-7444

Pat Leahy (D-VT), Banking LA: Greg Cota
Email: Greg_Cota@leahy.senate.gov; Burlington Office: 199 Main Street, 4th Floor, Burlington, VT 05401, Tel: (802) 863-2525

Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), Banking LA: Anna Taylor, Email: anna_taylor@lincoln.senate.gov; Little Rock Office: 912 West Fourth Street Little Rock, AR 72201, Tel: (501) 375-2993 Fax (501) 375-7064

Harry Reid (D-NV), Banking LA: Mark Wetjen
Email: mark_wetjen@reid.senate.gov; Las Vegas Office: Lloyd D. George Building 333 Las Vegas Boulevard South, Suite 801 Las Vegas, NV 89101; Tel: (702)388-5020, Fax: 702-388-5030

Republicans

Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Banking LA:Kathy Nuebel Kovarik, Email: Kathy_nuebel@grassley.senate.gov; Des Moines Office: 721 Federal Building 210 Walnut Street Des Moines, IA 50309; Tel: (515) 288-1145 Fax: (515) 288-5097

Johnny Isakson (R-GA), Banking LA: Chris Cook; Email: chris_cook@isakson@senate.gov; Atlanta Office: One Overton Park, Suite 970 3625 Cumberland Blvd, Atlanta, GA 30339; Tel: (770) 661-0999, Fax: (770) 661-0768

Dick Lugar (R-IN), Banking LA: Kylin McCardle
Email: kylin_mccardle@lugar.senate.gov; Indianapolis Office: 10 West Market St Suite 1180, Indianapolis,IN 46204, Tel: (317) 226-5555, Fax: (317) 226-5508

Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Banking LA: Matthew Berger, Email: matthew_berger@sbc.senate.gov; Portland Office: 3 Canal Plaza Suite 601 Portland, ME 04101, Tel: (207) 874-0883, Fax: (207) 874-7631

Susan Collins (R-ME), Banking LA: Mark LeDuc, Email: mark_leduc@hsgac.senate.gov; Portland Office: One Canal Plaza Suite 802 Portland, ME 04101; Tel: (207) 780-3575

George Voinovich (R-OH), Banking LA: Jan Elizabeth Fowler, Email: Jan¬_fowler@voinovich.senate.gov; Cleveland Office: 1240 East 9th Street Room 3061 Cleveland, OH 44199, Tel: (216) 522-7095, Fax: 522-7097

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