Visa spent $1.69M on federal lobbying in 3Q – BusinessWeek #swipefees

Visa Inc. spent $1.69 million in the third quarter to lobby the federal government on the regulation of debit card fees charged to merchants and other issues, according to a disclosure report.

via Visa spent $1.69M on federal lobbying in 3Q – BusinessWeek.

Get Ready For Bank Fee Whack-A-Mole | Moneyland | TIME.com #swipefees

The dust has barely settled over the debit card fee-flap but there’s more news from the big banks regarding fees. The good news is that it’s not all bad this time — both Bank of America and Chase have abandoned fees that were under consideration or in the testing phase. Meanwhile, though, banks are quietly calculating which other ones can take their place.

via Get Ready For Bank Fee Whack-A-Mole | Moneyland | TIME.com.

Debit Card Fee Debacle: Big Banks Could Lose $185 Billion In Deposits Next Year. #SwipeFees (Huff Post)

The top 10 retail banks are projected to lose $185 billion in deposits over the next year if they dont address consumer concerns, according to a recent study from cg42, a firm that consults with banks. Bank of America, Citibank, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo account for nearly three-quarters of the loss, the study found.

via Debit Card Fee Debacle: Big Banks Could Lose $185 Billion In Deposits Next Year, Report Finds.

The Green Sheet :: E-Magazine :: Washington takes a second look at Durbin #Swipefees

Call for antitrust investigation

A day after the anti-Durbin bill was introduced, congressional Democrats asked Attorney General Eric Holder to consider an anti-trust investigation of financial institutions on grounds they are colluding to create new fees to cover losses related to the Durbin Amendment’s debit interchange fee cap.

On Oct. 13, 2011, five Democratic congressmen led by Chief Deputy Whip Peter Welch, D-Vt., wrote Holder asking for the anti-trust investigation of “big banks [that] are coordinating their fee strategies in violation of federal anti-trust laws.”

via The Green Sheet :: E-Magazine :: Washington takes a second look at Durbin.

After Debit Card Uproar, Banks Look to Sneaky Fees – ABC News #swipefees

For years, banks have had an arsenal of fees they could charge consumers to increase revenues, said Ed Mierzwinski, consumer program director of U.S. Public Interest Research Group, which published a report, Big Banks, Bigger Fees, earlier this year.

via After Debit Card Uproar, Banks Look to Sneaky Fees – ABC News.

Berkshire: Buffett Buys Millions in Visa and CVS Stock – Stocks To Watch Today – Barrons.com

Not content to own just Mastercard (MA), Warren Buffett added Visa (V) to Berkshire Hathaway’s (BRKB) portfolio in the third quarter, according to a filing released after the market closed. Buffett reported owning 2.29 million shares of Visa in the quarter. He maintained his stake in MasterCard, which he also added to the portfolio this year, at 405,000 shares.

via Berkshire: Buffett Buys Millions in Visa and CVS Stock – Stocks To Watch Today – Barrons.com.

Intel and MasterCard Join Forces to Enhance the Consumer Payment Experience (Press Release)

Intel Corporation and MasterCard Incorporated announced today a multi-year strategic collaboration to further enhance the security and consumer payment experience for online shopping. “MasterCard is constantly working to improve the shopping experience for consumers and merchants”The collaboration will combine MasterCard’s expertise in payment processing and commerce with Intel’s strengths in silicon innovation and chip-based security. It is designed to provide more options for a safer and simpler checkout process for online merchants and consumers using Ultrabook™ devices and future generations of Intel-based PCs.

via Intel and MasterCard Join Forces to Enhance the Consumer Payment Experience for Online Shopping | Business Wire.

Visa, MasterCard Estimate Potential Fee Settlement at $4 Billion- Bloomberg #swipefees

Banga didn’t say that any settlement was imminent, either in the class action or in suits brought by individual merchants including Publix Super Markets Inc. (PUSH), the Lakeland, Florida-based supermarket chain, and Rite Aid Corp. (RAD), the Camp Hill, Pennsylvania-based drugstore chain.

‘via Visa, MasterCard Estimate Potential Fee Settlement at $4 Billion- Bloomberg.

David Lazarus; Bank of America; Chase – latimes.com #SwipeFees

Bank of America retreated this week from its planned introduction of a $5 monthly fee for many customers to use their debit cards. The bank said it “listened to our customers very closely” and decided that charging people money to access their money maybe wasn’t the best idea after all.

via David Lazarus; Bank of America; Chase – latimes.com.

 http://latimes.vid.trb.com/player/PaperVideoTest.swf

Visa, MasterCard still fixing card fees -merchants | Reuters #swipefees

Nearly eight years after Visa Inc and MasterCard Inc agreed to pay more than $3 billion to resolve allegations that they conspired to raise stores’ fees for processing their payment cards, merchants returned to court on Wednesday to argue that the card companies still maintain a costly stranglehold on interchange networks.

U.S. District Judge John Gleeson heard oral arguments in Brooklyn federal court from a slate of lawyers representing the credit card companies, their issuing banks and the merchants over whether to proceed to trial on the latest round of antitrust allegations against the card companies’ and banks’ interchange networks, which process customers’ credit- and debit-card payments to stores.

via Visa, MasterCard still fixing card fees -merchants | News by Country | Reuters.

MasterCard Estimates Settlement of Big Interchange Cases Could Cost It $500 Million (Digital Transactions) #Swipefees

Minneapolis attorney K. Craig Wildfang, lead attorney for the class plaintiffs, said he would not comment about the MasterCard disclosure. But Mitch Goldstone, president and chief executive of one of the named class plaintiffs, ScanMyPhotos.com in Irvine, Calif., said he believes the Occupy Wall Street anti-corporate demonstrators and their sympathizers are having an effect on the defendants.

“I’m having the best level of comfort since 2005 that this could be resolved very quickly,” Goldstone says. “Those [Occupy Wall Street participants] are the people that are going to be jurors next fall. The banks know it.”

Trial is set to start Sept. 12, 2012.

 

http://www.digitaltransactions.net/news/story/3262

Visa, MasterCard still fixing card fees -merchants | Reuters #SwipeFees [WayTooHigh.com]

Nearly eight years after Visa Inc and MasterCard Inc agreed to pay more than $3 billion to resolve allegations that they conspired to raise stores’ fees for processing their payment cards, merchants returned to court on Wednesday to argue that the card companies still maintain a costly stranglehold on interchange networks.

via Visa, MasterCard still fixing card fees -merchants | News by Country | Reuters.

Ellen DeGeneres’ Bank of America Debit Fee: Spoof Video