Watch how the banks are misleading American families #SwipeFees

The banks are bribing consumers with a sweepstakes – giving away two iPads – to get people to say they love paying the highest debit card interchange fees in the world. Chance of winning an iPad is about as great as having the banks admit they illegally fixed credit card fees.

Bank lets customers pay friends by bumping phones – USATODAY.com

Bank lets customers pay friends by bumping phones – USATODAY.com.

Swiped: Banks, Merchants And Why Washington Doesn’t Work For You

The fees Chung pays are a tiny fraction of Wall Street’s swipe fee windfall; banks take in a combined $48 billion a year from these “interchange” fees on debit and credit cards, according to analysts at The Nilson Report. That money comes out of the pockets of consumers as well as merchants, as stores pass on whatever costs they can to their customers.

via Swiped: Banks, Merchants And Why Washington Doesn’t Work For You.

Commercial Banks: Background | OpenSecrets

Advocacy group Consumer Watchdog reported that “34 members of the U.S. House of Representatives that offered amendments to weaken consumer protections in the House financial reform package received $3.8 million in campaign contributions from the financial sector in 2009, an average of $111,000 each.”

via Commercial Banks: Background | OpenSecrets.

Senator Durbin To Powerful Bank Lobbyists: Stand Down – Halah Touryalai – Working Capital – Forbes

Durbin replied in a letter yesterday that basically tells Keating he’s full of it.

From Durbin’s letter:…You say in your letter that the amendment Congress enacted last year will have “negative effects” on “banks of all sizes, on consumers and on the broader economy.” This claim sounds alarming, but your industry seems to make this claim in response to any and all efforts to reform the interchange fee system…I urge your association to stand down your massive misleading lobbying effort which is aimed at preventing the Federal Reserve from ever coming forward with reasonable financial regulations, and instead to let the regulatory process continue as Congress intended.

via Senator Durbin To Powerful Bank Lobbyists: Stand Down – Halah Touryalai – Working Capital – Forbes.

Credit-card surcharges hurt motorists | MyCentralJersey.com | MyCentralJersey.com

But gasoline station owners say the higher charge for using a credit card enables the station to recoup the costs for credit fees that rise as gas prices skyrocket, cutting deep in an already slim profit margin.

via Credit-card surcharges hurt motorists | MyCentralJersey.com | MyCentralJersey.com.

U.S. Senator eyes Canada’s low-cost credit card system | FP Street | Financial Post

In Canada, interchange fees are “zero, and yet [banks] continue to issue the cards and they continue to use them,” the senator told reporters in Washington, D.C. last month.

via U.S. Senator eyes Canada’s low-cost credit card system | FP Street | Financial Post.

With stories like this, why does anyone trust big-banks claims about Durbin? – Retail Industry Leaders AssociationRetail Industry Leaders Association

Yet respected members of Congress like U.S. Senators Tester and Corker are buying into big-bank cries that they somehow deserve their $48 billion annual windfall from swipe fees on the backs of America’s feed stores and coffee shops, a revenue number that is 10 times what it costs those megabanks to process debit transactions.

via With stories like this, why does anyone trust big-banks claims about Durbin? – Retail Industry Leaders AssociationRetail Industry Leaders Association.

Durbin, bankers battle over interchange fees – The Hill’s On The Money

Durbin, on the other hand, said “reasonable regulation of the interchange fee system is supported by a broad and diverse array of consumer, business, university, labor and community groups.”

via Durbin, bankers battle over interchange fees – The Hill’s On The Money.

High Gas Prices to Fill MasterCards Tank – NASDAQ.com

MasterCard charges gas stations when they accept payments for fuel using MasterCard-branded cards and higher gasoline prices will result in higher fees charged by MasterCard.

via High Gas Prices to Fill MasterCards Tank – NASDAQ.com.

Swiped: Banks, Merchants And Why Washington Doesnt Work For You

The fees Chung pays are a tiny fraction of Wall Street’s swipe fee windfall; banks take in a combined $48 billion a year from these “interchange” fees on debit and credit cards, according to analysts at The Nilson Report. That money comes out of the pockets of consumers as well as merchants, as stores pass on whatever costs they can to their customers.

via Swiped: Banks, Merchants And Why Washington Doesnt Work For You.

Caution: New Bank Of America Credit Card Fees « FightBack.com

Earlier this year, BofA introduced an annual fee of $59 for less than 5 percent of its credit card accounts. That fee will begin appearing on customers’ May statements.

via Caution: New Bank Of America Credit Card Fees « FightBack.com.

Debit card market needs fixing now | Hartford Business

Congress told the Federal Reserve to require that interchange fees be reasonable and proportional to the cost of the transaction. Congress also directed the Fed to require networks to give merchants more say in the routing of debit card transactions, a way of injecting competition into the debit card market

via Debit card market needs fixing now | Hartford Business.

Card swipe deception #SwipeFees

The argument that card fees are unreasonable is supported by the profit margins. Visa’s is 37 percent; MasterCard, 33 percent; and J.P. Morgan Chase, nearly 22 percent.

via Card swipe deception.

Debate rages in Washington over debit card fees | NewsOK.com

Retailers argue that the fees have grown out of proportion to the real costs of processing debit transactions and that they are suppressing profits and even job creation. If the fees were reduced, they say, consumers would benefit from lower prices.

via Debate rages in Washington over debit card fees | NewsOK.com.

The Brawl Over Debit-Card #SwipeFees – BusinessWeek

In case they lose in Congress, JPMorgan, Bank of America, and other lenders are already moving to eliminate popular rewards programs and add new checking-account fees. Maybe that will provoke consumers to finally add their voice to the debate.

via The Brawl Over Debit-Card Fees – BusinessWeek.

Republican Myth: Lower Taxes Spurs Jobs, Reality Ending Swipe Fees Generates Instant Economic Benefits

An Open Letter From Mitch Goldstone

As an entrepreneurial business owner, I can’t help but notice how disengaged the Republican’s have become – fueled by giant donations from the banks. On one hand, they insist that the wealthiest Americans need monstrous-sized tax breaks to stimulate the economy and craft new jobs, yet if merchants were provided with lower credit card interchange swipe fees, we would hoard the savings.

Well, which is it?

The reality is that the super wealthy would use the tax savings to buy municipal bonds and other exotic investments, rather than toil to lower unemployment.. However, the $64 billion in annual merchant credit card fees would directly be used to boost spending, the very tool sought by congress to stimulate the economy. Merchant interchange fees were designed forty years ago as a cost-based solution to operate a four-party payment network before it was electronic; when it involved manual credit card imprinters and thick stacks of carbon copy receipts that had to be mailed away to be processed and redeemed.

Just as with my company, technology and efficiencies have led to new solutions. Twenty years ago, I charged $5.00 to scan a photo, today it is 8-cents. Yet, for the banks, they have raised debit card fees, for instance, hundreds of percent and created a phony marketing tool for bestowing “rewards” which is little more than a gimmick. Cut the gimmicks and lower the fees!

Even if businesses squirreled away all the saved interchange fees, which is not realistic anyway due to competition (something lacking among Visa and MasterCard’s 80% market power monolopy), the overhanging issue that clouds the entire interchange battle is not being addressed. The issue is that the banks, along with MasterCard and Visa conspired to violate the Sherman Antitrust Act and illegally fix prices. That violation from the credit card cartel is the issue. But, as a sideshow, the banks are bullying small businesses and panicking American families claiming that all fees will rise and their rewards – little more than multi-billion dollar marketing gimmick that tricks American families – will evaporate.

What needs to evaporate are debit and credit card interchange fees and imposing a limit of 12-cents for debit card swipe fees is a good start. Next swiping away credit card fees, the much greater issue anyway.

Mitch Goldstone
President & CEO
ScanMyPhotos.com

Follow the conversation on Twitter – http://www.Twitter.com/WayTooHigh and http://www.WayTooHigh.com

Permission granted to copy and repost, unedited in its entirety

Opposing points of view: Merchants and their customers need relief from excessive debit card fees now | Detroit Free Press | freep.com

Members of Michigans congressional delegation are facing a well-financed effort by big banks and credit card companies to derail the reforms, which are part of the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act signed into law last year.

via Opposing points of view: Merchants and their customers need relief from excessive debit card fees now | Detroit Free Press | freep.com.

Wells Fargo first-quarter profit beats Street – Yahoo! News

Wells Fargo  Co (WFC.N), the fourth-largest U.S. bank, posted a higher quarterly profit as it put aside less money for bad loans.

via Wells Fargo first-quarter profit beats Street – Yahoo! News.

Debit Card Fees: Where Do You Stand? – Pay Dirt – SmartMoney

The already heated debate over the Federal Reserve’s plans to reduce and cap the charges on debit cards is getting even hotter. Several letters have been fired off by various groups to lawmakers this week either supporting or not the Fed’s new rules, plus one rather fierce letter going in the opposite direction, from a lawmaker to a banker.

via Debit Card Fees: Where Do You Stand? – Pay Dirt – SmartMoney.

As Phones Become Mobile Wallets, Businesses Want a Share – NYTimes.com

The stakes are enormous because small, hidden fees that are generated every time consumers swipe their cards add up to tens of billions of dollars annually in the United States alone.

via As Phones Become Mobile Wallets, Businesses Want a Share – NYTimes.com.

Courthouse News Service Fine Against Visa for $15 Million Upheld

A European court upheld a nearly $15 million fine against Visa for excluding Morgan Stanley, the previous owner of Discover Financial Services, from its international payment-card network.

via Courthouse News Service.

Credit-card swipe fees: US firms pay too much – and it hurts consumers – CSMonitor.com

Unfortunately, the current system fails on all three counts. And the problems are getting worse.

via Credit-card swipe fees: US firms pay too much – and it hurts consumers – CSMonitor.com.

U.S. Senator Dick Durbin to Chase Bank: Get Your Facts Straight #SwipeFees

“Your industry is used to getting its way with many members of Congress and with your regulators,” Durbin wrote in a letter addressed to Dimon, adding, “The American people deserve to know the real story about the interchange fee system and the ways that banks in general — and Chase in particular — have abused that system.”

via Durbin to Chase Bank: Get Your Facts Straight.

NRA Demands Lower #SwipeFees – Restaurant News – QSR magazine

Nearly 500 restaurateurs from 44 states called on their congressional members to fight the tactics of big banks and debit-card companies seeking to halt much-needed reforms to a broken market for debit-card swipe fees.

via NRA Demands Lower Swipe Fees – Restaurant News – QSR magazine.

U.S. Probes Bank Dealings on Libor – WSJ.com

By JOSEPH PALAZZOLO, JEAN EAGLESHAM and CARRICK MOLLENKAMP

U.S. investigators are examining whether some of the world’s biggest banks colluded to manipulate a key interest rate before and during the financial crisis, affecting trillions of dollars in loans and derivatives, say people familiar with the situation.

via U.S. Probes Bank Dealings on Libor – WSJ.com.

Debit card swipe fee reform pits big banks against merchants « Bizmology

If the debit card swipe fee cap is put on the legislative back burner, the debate will continue and consumers will be left footing the bill even longer while more banks start yanking debit card perks or upping other fees just in case the rule ever does see the light of day.

via Debit card swipe fee reform pits big banks against merchants « Bizmology.

U.S. Senator Dick Durbin Educates JPMorgan Chase CEO, Jamie Dimon on Real Cost of Interchange #SwipeFees (letter)

Source
Letter from U.S. Senator Dick Durbin

TO:

Jamie Dimon, Chief Executive Officer and President
JPMorgan Chase & Co.
270 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10017

Dear Mr. Dimon:

In your recent annual letter to your company’s shareholders, you wrote a lengthy and dismissive critique of the debit interchange fee reform legislation that I drafted and that Congress enacted last year. You have also been quoted describing my amendment as “counterproductive,” “price fixing at its worst,” and “downright idiotic.” I am compelled to respond, and I ask that you share this response with your shareholders as well as your customers.

Clearly, debit interchange reform has displeased many in the financial services industry. Your industry is used to getting its way with many members of Congress and with your regulators, and my amendment and the Federal Reserve’s draft regulations were not written the way you wanted. But that does not mean they were written poorly or that the process that created them was flawed. To the contrary, interchange reform will carefully but firmly rein in the fee collusion that your bank and thousands of other banks currently engage in through Visa and MasterCard. The wisdom of this reform is confirmed by the irrationality of the arguments that your industry raises against it – arguments that are based upon misrepresentations and threats rather than evidence or logic.

The American people deserve to know the real story about the interchange fee system and the ways that banks in general – and Chase in particular – have abused that system. I have said and written much on this topic already, but I will respond to five of your specific criticisms below.

1. Your letter claims that my reform amendment “is an example of a policy that has little basis in fact or analysis.” In fact, the amendment was drafted based upon years of Congressional hearings, Government Accountability Office reports, academic articles, and published studies by the Federal Reserve’s economists and payment system experts. These analyses showed that the debit interchange system is uncompetitive, inefficient, and harmful to consumers. Your industry often acts like these analyses do not exist, so I will explain what they reveal.

The debit interchange system is not a properly functioning market. For years, card-issuing banks like Chase have agreed to let the Visa and MasterCard duopoly fix the interchange fee rates that banks receive from merchants each time a debit card is swiped. The banks get the fees but they do not set the fees. This system of price-fixing by Visa and MasterCard on behalf of thousands of banks has gone entirely unregulated.

There are two core problems with Visa and MasterCard’s fixing of interchange rates. First, centralized rate-fixing does not give card-issuing banks incentive to manage their operational and fraud costs efficiently. This is because all banks in the network are guaranteed the same network-fixed interchange rate whether they are efficient or inefficient. Competition is absent and inefficiency is subsidized when fees are set in this manner.

Second, Visa and MasterCard have incentive to constantly increase interchange rates and there is no countervailing market force to temper these fee increases. Visa and MasterCard want as many of their debit cards to be swiped as possible because they are paid a network fee by merchants each time a card is swiped. By raising interchange rates, Visa and MasterCard can entice banks to issue more of their cards. Because Visa and MasterCard have enormous market power and control around 80 percent of the debit cards in consumers’ wallets, merchants cannot realistically say no to accepting Visa and MasterCard and have no leverage to negotiate fee rates with them. There is no naturally-occurring market force in today’s interchange system that would ever lead rates to go down.

So merchants are stuck with ever-rising debit interchange fees that add up to more than $16 billion each year. These fees not only affect merchants, but also universities, charities, government agencies and all others who accepts debit cards as payment. The fees end up getting passed on to consumers in the form of higher retail prices for groceries and gas. Consumers, and particularly unbanked consumers, ultimately bear the cost of subsidizing the interchange system.

We owe it to our nation’s consumers and businesses to ensure that the interchange system is efficient, transparent, and subject to competitive market forces. Studies have shown that Americans pay the highest debit interchange rates in the world, and that these rates have continued to increase in recent years. The Federal Reserve has also found that the high interchange rates charged today far exceed what it actually costs to conduct a debit transaction. Nearly every other industrialized country has established reasonable regulation over their debit systems, and these countries have achieved improved efficiency, lower fraud, and consumer benefits. The time has come for reasonable reform of the dysfunctional U.S. debit interchange system, and my amendment will make that reform a reality.

2. You say that “it’s a terrible mistake and also bad policy for the government to get involved in price fixing.” Of course, my amendment does not create price fixing – it constrains the price fixing that Visa and MasterCard currently perform on banks’ behalf. Visa and MasterCard cannot simply be trusted to fix interchange prices in a way that is fair for all participants in the debit card system. They have not proven worthy of that trust.

Last year Congress decided that there should be reasonable regulatory constraints placed on Visa and MasterCard to ensure that they cannot use their market dominance to funnel excessive interchange fees to the nation’s biggest banks. A strong bipartisan majority supported my amendment, which said that if Visa and MasterCard are going to fix fee rates on behalf of banks with over $10 billion in assets, those rates must be reasonable and proportional to the cost of processing the transaction. It is important to make clear that if Chase wants to set and charge its own fees in a competitive market environment, the amendment does not regulate those fees. The only regulated fees are those fees that banks let card networks fix on their behalf.

3. You criticize the law Congress passed because it does not consider “the cost of fraud.” Your comment highlights how the current interchange system, which supposedly does consider the cost of fraud, creates exactly the wrong incentives when it comes to fraud prevention. Fraud rates are far lower for PIN debit transactions than for signature debit transactions, but Visa and MasterCard set higher interchange fees for signature debit than for PIN ostensibly to cover the higher cost of fraud. Banks now urge cardholders to pay with signature in order to get the higher fees. For example, on April 21, 2010, the American Banker reported that your own bank sent a mailing to your debit customers that strongly suggested they should “always select” signature.

Chase’s practice of steering American cardholders toward fraud-prone signature debit stands in stark contrast to Chase’s practices in Canada. The Chase Canada website indicates that “chip and PIN technology will become available for all Chase Canada MasterCard and Visa cards in 2011.” Your Canadian-based subsidiary Chase Paymentech Solutions says on its website that chip and PIN technology provides “Enhanced Security and Fraud Reduction – Chip technology is virtually impossible to copy and combining its use with a PIN helps reduce lost, stolen or counterfeit transactions.” It is frankly inexcusable that your bank would urge your American customers to “always select” a fraud-prone technology while you provide your Canadian customers with technology that enhances security and reduces fraud.

In contrast to the current U.S. interchange system which rewards banks for promoting fraud-prone signature debit, my amendment will allow interchange fee increases only to those banks that successfully prevent fraud. The Federal Reserve can implement this in its final rulemaking by setting target fraud prevention metrics and allowing increased interchange for banks that meet those targets.

4. You say that Chase needs debit interchange fees to pay for the “fixed costs of servicing checking accounts and debit cards” such as “printing and mailing of the cards,” “operational and call center support to service the cards,” and “the costs of ATMs and branches.” Here you are using the old financial industry trick of first conflating the cost of conducting debit card transactions with the cost of offering other checking account-related services, and then arguing that network-fixed debit interchange rates should be used to cover this whole basket of costs. It is a clever argument that aims to justify Visa’s and MasterCard’s exorbitant price-fixed rates, but the shortcomings of this argument are evident.

The costs you cite in your letter are costs which banks should be incentivized to manage efficiently, and allowing Visa to fix interchange fee rates across all its member banks to supposedly cover these costs is a recipe for inefficiency and excess. Card network companies like Visa are not positioned to know what the appropriate level of cost is for operating “ATMs and branches,” nor are they equipped to determine how much of a particular bank’s “printing,” “mailing,” “operational” and “call center” costs are attributable to debit cards instead of ATM cards or credit cards. Further, Visa has no way of knowing if a particular bank is using debit interchange revenue not to cover legitimate costs but instead for rewards, ads, profit, or executive bonuses. Indeed, because Visa itself profits by incentivizing banks to issue more and more of its cards, Visa has every incentive to inflate the interchange fees it fixes to levels that compensate banks far in excess of their costs. In order to correct these incentives for inefficiency and excess, my amendment limits network interchange price-fixing on behalf of the biggest banks to an amount that is reasonable and proportional to the costs that are necessary to authorize, clear and settle a particular debit transaction over the network’s wires.

Also, your claim that interchange fees must be high enough to cover all checking account-related costs is undermined by the fact that banks also charge many other high consumer fees under the premise of covering those exact same costs. Banks like Chase charge consumers many fees for maintaining and accessing funds in their checking accounts – monthly fees, overdraft fees, failed payment fees, ATM withdrawal fees, failure to maintain a minimum balance fees, account closing fees, and more. Bank revenues from these consumer fees have not gone down in recent years as interchange fee revenues have gone up; to the contrary, bank revenues from consumer fees have also reached record highs. I would draw your attention to the November 12, 2008, Wall Street Journal article entitled “Banks Boost Customer Fees to Record Highs” and the July 1, 2009, New York Times article entitled “Bank Fees Rise as Lenders Try to Offset Losses,” both of which discuss your bank and other banks’ efforts to raise consumer fees long before my amendment was ever written.

5. You say that the amendment “potentially will harm consumers” because “banks will be forced to lose money on debit interchange transactions and likely will compensate by increasing fees in some way for deposit customers.” This threat defies both facts and logic.

First, there is no evidence that banks cannot continue to offer debit cards profitably with reduced interchange. As Andrew Martin explained in the excellent January 4, 2010, New York Times article entitled “How Visa, Using Card Fees, Dominates a Market,” up through the early 1990s banks used to offer debit cards even though they received no interchange fees. In fact, many banks used to pay merchants for accepting debit cards, because debit cards saved money for banks when compared to the banks’ costs of processing paper checks. The current high-fee debit interchange system in this country only developed because Visa entered into and took over the debit market the mid-1990s through an antitrust violation, and Visa then imported credit card-type interchange fees into the debit space. Studies have shown that many other countries enjoy vibrant debit systems with interchange fees strictly regulated or prohibited entirely. In short, past experience in this country and present examples in other countries demonstrate that banks like Chase can easily continue to offer debit card services without the excessive subsidy of high interchange fees.

Second, if Chase follows through on threats to increase consumer fees (beyond those increases you have already made in recent years), market competition would suggest that many of your deposit customers would take their business elsewhere. In fact, many of those customers would likely take their business to the small banks and credit unions who are exempted from my amendment’s interchange fee regulation and for whom Visa and other debit networks have already agreed to set a higher tier of interchange rates. And for those who continue to speculate that my amendment will hurt small banks and credit unions, I recommend they read Simon Johnson’s excellent analysis in the April 7 New York Times entitled “Big Banks Have a Powerful New Opponent.”

In conclusion, I recognize that Chase will likely see decreased revenue from interchange reform, but I urge you to keep some perspective. Last year Chase had $17.4 billion in profits – up 48 percent from the previous year – and a 15 percent profit margin. Your own personal compensation “jumped nearly 1,500 percent to $20.8 million in 2010” according to Reuters. In contrast, middle-class American families are struggling to get by in a tough economy – an economy that went south because of the banking industry’s unregulated excesses.

There is no need for you to threaten your customers with higher fees when you and your bank are already making money hand-over-fist. And there is no need to make such threats in response to reform that simply tries to spare consumers from bearing the cost of interchange fees that are anticompetitive and unreasonably high.

Interchange reform is necessary and it is long overdue. Right now the Fed is working diligently to craft a set of final regulations that will reflect the comprehensive information it has gathered and that will respond to the valuable comments it has received. In the coming weeks I am confident the Fed will produce a reasonable set of reforms that will enhance the efficiency, competitiveness and fairness of the debit system. This will neither be “counterproductive” nor “idiotic.” It will be good news for all Americans.

Sincerely,

Richard J. Durbin
United States Senator

Source: durbin.senate.gov

J.P. Morgan quarterly profit jumps 67% – MarketWatch

J.P. Morgan is the first major U.S. bank to report first-quarter results. The company is a big player in all major banking businesses, including investment banking and trading, retail banking, credit cards, mortgages, commercial lending, treasury and securities services and asset management.

via J.P. Morgan quarterly profit jumps 67% – MarketWatch.

NAACP clarifies its stance on debit card fees – The Hill’s On The Money

In a letter sent Monday to House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), the group appeared to walk back its previous call that the limits should be delayed because the matter requires further analysis.

via NAACP clarifies its stance on debit card fees – The Hill’s On The Money.

Big banks are government-backed: Fed’s Hoenig – Yahoo! News

Big banks like Bank of America Corp and Citigroup Inc should be reclassified as government-sponsored entities and have their activities restricted, a senior Fed official said on Tuesday.

via Big banks are government-backed: Fed’s Hoenig – Yahoo! News.

MasterCard Worldwide RAISES Interchange Fees! The Green Sheet

Effective, April 15, MasterCard will increase the interchange rate for its World Merit III card from 1.73% + $0.10 to 1.77% + $0.10. Also among the interchange increases disclosed by MasterCard were:

World Full UCAF (the rate for a world card e-commerce credit transaction conducted with merchant security and cardholder verification) will increase from 1.83% + $0.10 to 1.87% + $0.10.

World Merchant UCAF (the rate for a world card e-commerce credit transaction conducted with merchant security only) increased from 1.73% + $0.10 to 1.77% + $0.10.

via The Green Sheet :: Breaking News.

Merchant Interchange Fee INCREASES!!!! via The Green Sheet #SwipeFees

MasterCard Worldwide recently released its spring 2011 changes to interchange rates and assessments. Included among them is an increase in the interchange rate for a widely used rewards card called the World Merit III, which for some retail merchants constitutes a large portion of their credit card volume, according to Phil Hinke, Founder of MLS Advocate LLC.

via The Green Sheet :: Breaking News.

Sen. Durbin Blasts Banks, VISA and MasterCard for Taking Advantage of Merchants For #SwipeFees

WASHINGTON, D.C.] Durbin spoke on March 17th, 2011 on the floor of the United States Senate in response to a Wall Street Journal editorial opposing critical reforms of the debit card swipe fee structure. The banking industry currently collects over $16 billion each year in non-negotiable debit swipe fees which hurt small business and result in higher prices for consumers.

Editorial: Don’t delay much-needed reform on bank “swipe fees” – Chicago Sun-Times

Each time someone uses a Visa or MasterCard debit card, the bank that issued the card charges a fee of 40 cents to 45 cents or more, though the Federal Reserve found the actual processing cost is only 4 cents. Because consumers typically use debit cards for smaller transactions while putting the big stuff on their credit cards, debit card swipe fees can take a significant bite out of a retailer’s profits.

via Editorial: Don’t delay much-needed reform on bank “swipe fees” – Chicago Sun-Times.

Deloney: Push lawmakers on changes to debit cards | Lansing State Journal | lansingstatejournal.com

Small business owners have watched helplessly as swipe fees have mushroomed by 300 percent over the last decade. And when a local merchant gets socked with higher fees, the cost is passed along to the consumer through higher prices. That’s Economics 101.

via Deloney: Push lawmakers on changes to debit cards | Lansing State Journal | lansingstatejournal.com.

Taking a swipe at fees – Evening Sun

The truth is, none of them are free of fees. And over the past few weeks, with debit cards suddenly in the news, we’ve been hearing some hard numbers about just what all that convenience costs us.

via Taking a swipe at fees – Evening Sun.

Simon Johnson: Big Banks Have a Powerful New Opponent – NYTimes.com

As a lobbying group, the largest American banks have been dominant throughout the latest boom-bust-bailout cycle – capturing the hearts and minds of the Bush and Obama administrations, as well as the support of most elected representatives on Capitol Hill

via Simon Johnson: Big Banks Have a Powerful New Opponent – NYTimes.com.

Chase Will Reinstate Debit Card Rewards If Fee Overhaul Is Delayed – The Consumerist

Chase has pledged to reinstate debit card rewards programs if the cap on fees it collects from merchants per debit transaction, scheduled to go into effect July 21st, is delayed.

via Chase Will Reinstate Debit Card Rewards If Fee Overhaul Is Delayed – The Consumerist.

Video Addressing Unfair Credit Card SwipeFees (via AmericanFamilyVoices.org)

Banks: To Big To Fail? (Radio Message)

listen here

Simon Johnson: Big Banks Have a Powerful New Opponent – NYTimes.com

Their reign, however, is being seriously challenged – finally – by an alliance of retailers, big and small, on whose behalf a variety of ads are now running, including on television (such as this one, by Americans for Job Security), the Web (such as this, by American Family Voices) and a powerful radio spot directly attacking the too-big–to-fail banks.

via Simon Johnson: Big Banks Have a Powerful New Opponent – NYTimes.com.

Grocers Battle Banks Over Debit Card Fees – HispanicBusiness.com #SwipeFees

The battle boils down to an item in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act passed by Congress last year. That item is an amendment that would limit the amount retailers have to pay to banks when customers use debit cards. The retailers say the financial institutions are dipping into their already-thin profit margins. Bankers see it differently.

via Grocers Battle Banks Over Debit Card Fees – HispanicBusiness.com.

Chase Bank: Disney Dollars

So Chase Bank is complainin­g that Senator Durbin is taking away our “Disney dollars”. Well, Chase Bank took away our real dollars. Senator Durbin is just trying to get the real dollars back.

via Chase Bank: Disney Dollars Were Taken Thanks To Dick Durbin.

Disney Dollars and #SwipeFees

In the Senate floor Thursday, the number two Senate Democrat accused Chase of trying to pressure the Senate with its letters to consumers. “Now the banks and credit card companies are pulling out all the stops. I learned yesterday that Chase, which is one of the major issuers of these debit cards across America, sent a letter to their customers in a number of states and said, you know, if you don’t repeal the Durbin amendment, we’re going to end up in a position where we won’t be able to give you all of the rewards which we’re offering you on your debit and credit card,” Durbin said.

via HuffPost  Chase Bank: Disney Dollars Were Taken Thanks To Dick Durbin.

Part II – Our view: In swipe fees fight, retailers make better case – USATODAY.com #swipefees

These anticompetitive charges — known as interchange, or swipe, fees — add up. In 2008 retailers paid $48 billion, which they passed on in form of higher prices. Thats an average of $427 per household.

via Our view: In swipe fees fight, retailers make better case – USATODAY.com.

Our view: In swipe fees fight, retailers make better case – USATODAY.com

But the competition is limited. Visa and MasterCard, which set the swipe fees, were owned by the banking industry until they were spun off as free-standing companies. As a debit-card duopoly, they have leverage over retailers. Congress is not so much regulating an industry as it is policing a cartel. Though there might be better ways of addressing swipe fees, it should not abandon the effort.

via Our view: In swipe fees fight, retailers make better case – USATODAY.com.

Retail Grocers Push Lawmakers for Federal Swipe-Fee Reforms | Independent Retailer

Grocers from across the U.S. have met in Washington to urge lawmakers to expedite implementation of debit card swipe fee reform that was included in the bipartisan Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act passed by Congress last year.

via Retail Grocers Push Lawmakers for Federal Swipe-Fee Reforms | Independent Retailer.

Retail Grocers Push Lawmakers for Federal Swipe-Fee Reforms | Independent Retailer

Grocers from across the U.S. have met in Washington to urge lawmakers to expedite implementation of debit card swipe fee reform that was included in the bipartisan Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act passed by Congress last year.

via Retail Grocers Push Lawmakers for Federal Swipe-Fee Reforms | Independent Retailer.

Foreign Banks Tapped Fed’s Secret Lifeline Most at Crisis Peak – Bloomberg

Those programs also loaned hundreds of billions of dollars to the biggest U.S. banks, including JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), Bank of America Corp. (BAC), Citigroup Inc. and Morgan Stanley. (MS)

via Foreign Banks Tapped Fed’s Secret Lifeline Most at Crisis Peak – Bloomberg.

Never Pay This Fee Again

Everywhere you look, bank fees have been on the rise. So when banks actually start cutting some of their fees, it’s cause for celebration. Unfortunately, you won’t realize the benefits of those cuts until the next time you take an international trip — but when you do, the savings could be huge.

via Never Pay This Fee Again.