The Credit Card Fair Fee Act of 2008, H.R. 5546, was introduced in March by Rep. John Conyers and co-sponsored by 39 other representatives with the objective to "to amend the antitrust laws to ensure competitive market-based rates and terms for merchants' access to electronic payment systems".

A transcript of the Judiciary Committee's recent markup discussion of this bill is available online - and makes for interesting reading.

U.S. Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee Members Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine), and Benjamin L. Cardin (D-Maryland) have requested that "the Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigate the structure of credit card interchange fees, which are used to reimburse credit card companies for processing transactions. While credit card companies contend that consumers and businesses receive great benefits from the current system, merchants are concerned that card issuers are pushing the cost of credit card incentives and rewards programs onto businesses and consumers through interchange fees. To examine both sides of the issue, the Senators asked GAO to take a balanced look at whether fees are properly disclosed, how the fees are set, and the level of competition in the marketplace."   » Continue Reading

The latest weekly edition of Financial Insights' FinSights Advisor newsletter is titled "Will Competition Take A Bite Out of Interchange?" . From the abstract:

"New competitors are taking on Visa and MasterCard’s interchange pricing scheme as both firms have been busy defending themselves against claims of duopoly pricing. The potential for competitive alternatives may never be better. Are card issuers and the networks (primarily Visa and MasterCard) vulnerable to competitive card-based alternatives? How will this story play out?"

The Merchants Payments Coalition (MPC) issued the following statement in response to the House Judiciary Committee passing the Credit Card Fair Fee Act, H.R. 5546, today. The Committee voted 19 to 16 in favor of the Act.

“We applaud the House Judiciary Committee’s leadership with the passage of the Credit Card Fair Fee Act of 2008, H.R. 5546. Today’s victory is a landmark decision that reaches far across party lines in reining in Visa and MasterCard’s stranglehold over merchants and consumers alike. The Committee issued a loud, bipartisan wake-up call to credit card and financial services industry with the reporting of H.R. 5546, which they boasted would never see the light of day. The Committee not only reported the bill with 10 Democrats and 9 Republicans voting to report it, but defeated every poison pill amendment by similar bipartisan margins."   » Continue Reading

In an article titled "On credit card fees, blame game begins", Chris Frates writes from Politico. com about the legislative battle underway on Capitol Hill over interchange fees and whether pending legislation to provide merchants a way to directly negotiate interchange fees should be passed. According to Frates, "the debate has sparked a huge lobbying campaign marked by Capitol Hill visits and briefings, coalitions and ad campaigns."

In a press release this afternoon anticipating tomorrow's House Judiciary Committee meeting to mark up H.R. 5546, the "Credit Card Fair Fee Act of 2008," MasterCard urged members of the Committee "to consider the many credible organizations and regulatory bodies that have voiced significant concerns about this legislation."   » Continue Reading

Kathy Chu reports for USA Today on gas stations wanting to encourage customers paying with cash rather than credit cards - but finding that with higher gasoline prices that consumers are wanting to pay with credit cards more often because they "don't have enough cash on hand."

Adam Levitin, associate professor at the Georgetown University Law Center, writes on the Credit Slips blog (where interchange fees are this week's topic) about Visa's changes to interchange fees for fuel transactions announced last week.

Also, Levitin's recent paper titled "Priceless? The Economic Costs of Credit Card Merchant Restraints" (to be published in the UCLA Law Review) is available online.

In April, the Reserve Bank of Australia released the preliminary conclusions of its 2007/08 review of the payments system reforms undertaken by its Payments System Board. Interested parties were invited to make written submissions by June 30th on these conclusions and the analysis underpinning them. The RBA has made those submissions available online.

In a press release, the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) says that "the nation’s 115,000-plus convenience stores will communicate their outrage over devastating credit card fees via pumptoppers that will educate consumers and Congress about the problem." NACS will be making "pumptoppers" available free of charge to retailers "communicating the industry’s fight against sky-high interchange rates."   » Continue Reading

In a press release today, the Merchants Payments Coalition commented on yesterday's announcement by Visa of changes to its interchange fees and authorization holds for fuel purchases.   » Continue Reading

Visa has announced that it is "implementing processing and rate changes that will result in benefits for American consumers and fuel merchants frustrated by rising prices at the pump. Visa’s new processing approach for fuel transactions will enable consumers to buy gas more easily and allow motorists and station owners to better avoid the risks and inconveniences associated with pump limits and holds on funds. Visa also will reduce interchange rates for fuel transactions, which can lower costs for oil companies and service stations and can be passed onto consumers at the pump."   » Continue Reading

In his Washington Post column today (scroll down to the bottom of that page), Jeffrey H. Birnbaum writes about the activity in the House Judiciary Committee as it considers legislation that would "force credit card companies to reduce the fees they charge merchants." He writes about visits paid on lawmakers last week by banking industry representations.

Philip Lowe, Assistant Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, spoke earlier this month at a Visa forum on the subject of "The Preliminary Conclusions of the Payments System Review".

He says: "If there is a central message to my remarks ... it is that, while significant progress has been made in improving the competitive landscape in the Australian payments system, further progress is needed. Ideally, this progress would be made by industry participants. Reflecting this, the Board’s preliminary conclusions lay out some carrots and sticks that it hopes will promote industry-based reform. In the event that industry is able to respond and deliver a more competitive system, then the most contentious part of the reforms – the regulation of interchange fees – can be rolled back. On the other hand, if industry is either unable or unwilling to take the necessary steps, then the regulation of interchange fees is likely to continue, and these fees, particularly in the credit card system, are likely to be reduced further."

The National Retail Federation has announced that it welcomes "the addition of Senator Christopher “Kit” Bond, R-Mo., as a co-sponsor of the Credit Card Fair Fee Act of 2008, saying the move shows lawmakers in both parties are increasingly concerned by hidden fees that cost the average family $427 a year."   » Continue Reading

Last week, we mentioned a paper by Steven Semeraro titled "Credit Card Interchange Fees: Debunking Six Myths". Semeraro's also the author of an earlier lengthy review of credit card interchange fees titled "Credit Card Interchange Fees: Three Decades of Antitrust Uncertainty" . If you're interested in this subject, be sure to also read this paper.

MasterCard Europe (MCE) has announced that "as of June 21, 2008 MasterCard is temporarily repealing its current MasterCard and Maestro intra-EEA cross-border consumer card interchange fees in conformity with the European Commission's December 19, 2007 decision. MCE said it will continue its dialogue with the Commission services about an interchange fee methodology that the Commission services believe is consistent with the decision. MCE also said it will continue to pursue its appeal of the decision to the European Court of First Instance, which it filed on March 1."   » Continue Reading

In a paper titled "Credit Card Interchange Fees: Debunking Six Myths" , Steven Semeraro, Associate Professor of Law and Associate Dean at the Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego, writes about credit card interchange fees.   » Continue Reading

U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) has introduced new legislation in the US Senate "to allow large and small businesses to negotiate directly with credit card companies to reduce the interchange fees that are charged on every credit card transaction."   » Continue Reading

In a blog post titled "5 ways to prepare today for the risk of lower interchange revenue tomorrow", Aneace Haddad lists what he thinks card issuers in the US and Europe should be thinking about if they're evaluating the scenario that interchange fees could be reduced.

While we're all suffering as consumers every time we fill up our gas tanks from the increases in gasoline prices, Vic Kolenc writes in an article titled "Card swipes hurt gasoline retailers" in the El Paso Times about fuel retailers complaining about credit card interchange fees. One fuel retailer comments: "For every $1 cash (sale), I bring in $2 in credit (sales). By the time I end up paying all the credit-card fees, I don't have much left."

The Merchant's Guide, LLC has announced the release of "Understanding Credit Card Interchange In Card-Not-Present Environments" calling it "the first comprehensive guide developed to provide direct sellers with the tactical knowledge to minimize credit card Interchange fees."   » Continue Reading

The Electronic Transactions Association held its Annual Meeting & Expo in April. Many of the presentations from that meeting are available for downloading from the ETA's web site. Some of the topics include "When Interchange Really Isn't Interchange: The Relevance of Interchange Optimization for Merchants" and "PCI Security & You" .

In an article titled Rising Credit Card Interchange Fees Equal Double Punch at Pumps, Convenience Store News reports on yesterday's testimony at the House Judiciary Committee hearing on interchange fees. "Last year, convenience stores paid $7.6 billion in credit card fees, a figure more than double industry profits of $3.4 billion."

Tom Robinson, president of the San Jose, Calif.-based Robinson Oil Corp. who testified at the hearing (his full testimony is here) went on: "Right now there is no market for interchange fees. The fees are fixed by the banks, hidden from the public and forced on merchants in a take-it-or-leave-it offer. The Credit Card Fair Fee Act will create a market for interchange fees for the first time by allowing merchants and the card associations to negotiate on equal footing."

The testimony of several of the witnesses at today's heading on interchange fees by the US House Judiciary Committee is now available online in PDF format. Included is testimony from: Thomas L. Robinson (Vice President of Regulations, National Association of Convenience Stores), Joshua R. Floum (General Counsel and Corporate Sec., Visa Inc.), Steve Cannon (Chairman, Constantine Cannon, LLP), Joshua Peirez (Chief Payment System Integrity Officer, MasterCard Worldwide), John Blum (Vice President of Operations, Chartway FCU), and Edward Mierzwinski (Consumer Program Director U.S. PIRG).

In a press release, the Electronic Payments Coalition commented on today's hearing before the House Judiciary Committee Antitrust Task Force on H.R. 5546: "The Electronic Payments Coalition is pleased that the House Judiciary Committee Antitrust Task Force is holding a hearing today to take a closer look at H.R. 5546, the "Credit Card Fair Fee Act." Members of the Task Force will be given an opportunity to learn quite explicitly that this ill-conceived legislation is nothing short of price controls -- action that would result in less competition, fewer consumer choices, and reduced access to affordable credit and debit options."   » Continue Reading

In a press release, MasterCard Worldwide said that "it is pleased that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) report examining interchange fees recognized the benefits the federal government receives from both payment card usage and acceptance. MasterCard urges Members of Congress to review the report before taking action to regulate interchange fees, which would have a negative impact on consumers, small financial institutions, and ultimately merchants."   » Continue Reading

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued a new report today titled "Credit and Debit Cards: Federal Entities Are Taking Actions to Limit Their Interchange Fees, but Additional Revenue Collection Cost Savings May Exist" .   » Continue Reading

The National Retail Federation in a press release urged the House Judiciary Committee to support antitrust legislation that would require Visa and MasterCard to negotiate with merchants over credit card processing fees. The NRF said "a hidden fee charged by the two card giants is projected to cost the average U.S. family more than $400 this year."   » Continue Reading

In a press release, MasterCard commented that "merchants do not need price control legislation or an antitrust exemption to lower costs for payment card acceptance, as they already have real opportunities to negotiate fees." Joshua Peirez, Chief Payment System Integrity Officer at MasterCard Worldwide, gave his testimony at the hearing.   » Continue Reading

The National Association of Convenience Stores has issued a press release on today's House Judiciary Committee hearing on interchange fees. Tom Robinson, president of San Jose, California-based Robinson Oil Corporation testified today at the hearing.   » Continue Reading

In a press release, the Merchants Payments Coalition says that "merchants welcome encouragement from Democrats and Republicans alike in support of HR 5546, the Credit Card Fair Fee Act, bi-partisan legislation that would end credit card industry price fixing, which is the subject of a hearing today by the House Judiciary Committee Antitrust Task Force."   » Continue Reading

As we mentioned here on Payments News on Monday, the House Judiciary Committee is holding a hearing on Thursday, May 15th beginning at 11 AM Eastern time on H.R. 5546, the “Credit Card Fair Fee Act of 2008”. As of tonight, the committee's website doesn't list the witnesses who will be testifying - but it promises that a live webcast of the hearing will be available.

As an editorial comment, many of us in the payments industry find the "solution" proposed in this legislation to be overly complex. Read the actual text of the draft legislation - and you may reach the same conclusion! We wonder whether the merchant community in fact would be well served by the remedies proposed. A very basic question comes to mind: "Is this the best you can do?"

Robin Sidel writes for the Wall St. Journal about Thursday's House Judiciary Committee hearing on the Credit Card Fair Fee Act of 2008. Sidel writes that one effect of the legislation, if passed and signed into law, would reduce interchange fees paid to banks and, therefore, force issuing banks to cut back on their card reward programs. While merchants are saying that any interchange fee reductions would be passed along to consumers through lower prices, many in the industry say that is unlikely to be the case - and point to the lack of price reductions following action taken by the Reserve Bank of Australia that cut interchange fees significantly in that country.

In an article titled 'Welch pushes bill to trim back credit card fees on businesses' in the Barre-Montpelier Times Argus, Peter Hirschfeld reports from Vermont about Rep. Peter Welch's news conference yesterday where he attacked 'rising credit card fees' and announced plans to introduce new legislation concerning them later this week. "It's a near monopoly they have," Welch said of VISA and MasterCard. "And, as is often the case with monopoly power, it's abused." More information is available on Welch's web site.

The US House Judiciary Committee is holding a hearing this Thursday, May 15th, on H.R. 5546, the “Credit Card Fair Fee Act of 2008”. That bill was introduced by committee chairman Rep. John Conyers, Jr. In an article titled "Old foes unite to keep charging credit card fees to merchants", The Hill reports that the "heated battle over the credit card fees charged to merchants has united two eternal foes" - namely, banks and credit unions. As of tonight, the witness list for Thursday's hearing hasn't been announced.

In a Payment Systems Research Briefing titled Developments in Interchange Fees in the United States and Abroad , Terri Bradford and Fumiko Hayashi of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City provide an update on developments in interchange fees in the United States and recent public authority involvement in interchange fees abroad. They write: "While regulation of interchange fees is still just a point of discussion in the United States, regulation abroad is a reality. In about 20 countries, public authorities have taken actions that limit the level of interchange fees or merchant discount fees."

Lisa Lerer writes for Politico.com writes about merchant frustrations with increasing payment card interchange fees - and legislation introduced in the US Congress to try to deal with interchange fees. She writes: 'The fight is over interchange fees, a relatively obscure business-to-business charge brought into the spotlight by a two-year lobbying campaign. And it’s an issue the retailers hope will dovetail with renewed congressional scrutiny of other credit card practices involving hidden charges and excessive fees.'

On the flip side, Jeff Jacoby writes an op-ed piece for the Boston Globe titled 'Leave the Plastic Alone' advocating that no legislation is required to manage interchange fees.

The Reserve Bank of Australia has released preliminary conclusions from its 2007/08 review of the payments system reforms undertaken by the Payments System Board. The Bank is now seeking submissions on these conclusions, before finalising the review later in the year.   » Continue Reading

The Reserve Bank of Australia has published the Proceedings from its Payments Systems Review Conference held last November. 'The conference was designed to bring together a wide range of parties to discuss the reforms of recent years and how best to move forward. It was attended by around 90 invited participants, drawn from financial institutions, payment schemes, industry bodies, merchants, consultants, academia and public policy institutions.' The table of contents of the proceedings is here.

CNNMoney.com carries an AP story on the on-going debate between the card companies and US merchants over payment card interchange fees. 'Visa and MasterCard defend the fees as a way to pay for the convenience and security of credit card transactions. The banks that issue cards are on the hook for any fraudulent transactions, rather than consumers, and the banks also take the credit risk that the consumer may not pay.'

The National Association of Convenience Stores reports that convenience store industry sales reached a new high of $577.4 billion in 2007 (up 1.4 percent), but that profits dropped by $1.4 billion, 'largely because of higher credit card fees.' In its press release, NACS goes on to say that "the net effect is that the industry's credit card fees are now more than double the industry's pretax profits."   » Continue Reading

In today's Wall St. Journal, the sponsors of the Credit Card Fair Fee Act legislation (Rep. John Conyers and Rep. Chris Cannon) respond to the Journal's earlier editorial against the act. They argue the act is pro-competitive because it 'facilitates direct negotiations between merchants and the credit card industry on interchange fees.'

Today's Wall St. Journal contains several letters to the editor in response to the Journal's editorial last Saturday "urging a market solution to excessively high credit-card interchange fees." One commenter writes "What aggravates so many merchants and service providers is the fee surcharges that are unilaterally imposed upon merchants for accepting certain types of credit cards most often associated with the multitude of rewards programs so widely advertised."

MasterCard Worldwide has updated its online document containing its 'U.S. and Interregional Interchange Rates' effective April 1, 2008.

On the Credit Slips blog, Adam Levitin reacts to yesterday's Wall St. Journal editorial about the Credit Card Fair Fee Act. His stepping off point is the editorial's reference to the recent US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit court decision in the Kendall v. Visa U.S.A. litigation . Levitin concludes: "Like with WSJ, I’m all for a market solution to excessively high interchange fees. But I’m doubtful that the market will solve the problem if left solely to its own devices. Court or legislative intervention is necessary."

The Wall St. Journal has an editorial this morning about the Credit Card Fair Fee Act introduced by House Democrat John Conyers of Michigan and Republican Chris Cannon of Utah. 'The Conyers-Cannon bill requires that any credit card company with more than 20% of the credit and debit market -- Visa has about 50% and MasterCard 25% -- negotiate for 90 days with a coalition of retailers on a mutually acceptable fee. (The retailers would gain an antitrust exemption for these deliberations.) If the parties can't agree, a three-person panel of "electronic payment judges" will "determine rates and terms" which shall be binding. That sounds like a price-control regime.'

Separately, today's New York Times editorial page had an editorial titled 'Plastic Card Tricks' saying that 'Washington needs to change the way these companies [credit card issuers] do business to ensure that consumers are treated fairly.' Further: 'Congress needs to address numerous unfair practices, including interest rates that skyrocket for no apparent reason and due dates that suddenly shift — forward — so that an unwary consumer pays late.'

From their press release: 'The European Commission has decided to open formal antitrust proceedings against Visa Europe Limited in relation to its multilateral interchange fees (MIF) for cross-border point of sale transactions within the EEA using Visa branded consumer payment cards, and the 'Honour-All-Cards-Rule' as it applies to these transactions. The proceedings will seek to establish whether these practices constitute infringements of Article 81 of the EC Treaty and Article 53 of the EEA Agreement, which forbid restrictive business practices such as price fixing.'   » Continue Reading

Here's the full text of H.R. 5546 - The Credit Card Fair Fee Act of 2008 that was introduced yesterday Rep. John Conyers and several other co-sponsors "to amend the antitrust laws to ensure competitive market-based rates and terms for merchants’ access to electronic payment systems."

The Electronic Payments Coalition has issued a statement in response to what it is calling "price control legislation" introduced earlier today (H.R. 5546).   » Continue Reading

The Merchants Payments Coalition (MPC) has issued a press release favoring the legislation introduced today dealing with interchange fees. From the press release: "Today House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) and Rep. Chris Cannon (R-UT) introduced the "Credit Card Fair Fee Act," legislation that for the first time deals with the biggest credit card fee of all - the interchange fee, which grew to $36 billion in 2006."   » Continue Reading

The National Retail Federation says it welcomes "the introduction of landmark antitrust legislation that would address hidden MasterCard and Visa fees that cost merchants and their customers more than $40 billion a year." The Credit Card Fair Fee Act was introduced today by House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich.   » Continue Reading

MasterCard Europe has announced it has "applied to the European Court of First Instance to annul the European Commission's decision on MasterCard Europe's cross-border interchange fees, and said it believes it has strong grounds for its request. The December 19, 2007 decision requires the company, among other things, to repeal its intra- EEA fallback interchange fees by June 21st."   » Continue Reading

The American Banker reports this morning about legislation being drafted in the US Congress that would "amend the antitrust laws to ensure competitive market-based rates and terms for merchants' access to electronic payment systems."

MasterCard has filed its Form 10-K Annual Report with the SEC. On pages 24-25 of the 10-K, MasterCard notes that "interchange fees are subject to increasingly intense legal and regulatory scrutiny worldwide, which may have a material adverse impact on our revenue, our prospects for future growth and our overall business." MasterCard notes that "on January 31, 2008, the Hungarian Competition Authority commenced a formal investigation of MasterCard Europe’s domestic interchange fees in Hungary."

Thomson Financial reports on comments by president and chief executive of Visa Europe Peter Ayliffe regarding the need to advance discussions with the European Commission on interchange fees. Ayliffe also spoke out strongly against surcharging.

In a press release yesterday, the National Retail Federation says it "has welcomed a ruling by the European Commission that hidden fees currently charged by MasterCard to process credit card transactions in Europe – similar to those that cost U.S. shoppers $40 billion annually – drive up costs for consumers in violation of EC rules and must be withdrawn within six months."   » Continue Reading

A coalition of U.S. merchants opposed to unfair credit card fees says it welcomed a ruling by the European Union (EU) Competition Commission that MasterCard’s credit card interchange fees for consumers must be cut across the 26 member nations of the European community.   » Continue Reading

MasterCard Europe has announced that "it will appeal to the European Court of First Instance today's decision by the European Commission regarding MasterCard Europe's default cross-border interchange fees."   » Continue Reading

This morning, Neelie Kroes, European Commissioner for Competition Policy, announced that the European Commission has "adopted a decision that MasterCard's multilateral interchange fees, or MIF, for cross-border payment card transactions with MasterCard and Maestro branded debit and consumer credit cards in the European Economic Area (EEA) violate EC Treaty rules on restrictive business practices." MasterCard has six months to comply with the Commission's order to withdraw the fees. A number of documents about the decision are available online in PDF form including her speech, a press release, and an FAQ.

With respect to Visa, Kroes went on to add: "Let me finally say a few words regarding the other large payment card scheme in Europe, VISA. Back in 2002, the Commission adopted an exemption decision concerning VISA's MIF. This exemption expires in a few days, on 31 December and from that moment on VISA will be responsible to ensure that its system is in full compliance with EU competition rules."

As part of its2007–08 review of the reforms to Australia's payments system, the Reserve Bank of Australia co-hosted a Payments Systems Review Conference (several papers available for download) today in conjunction with the Centre for Business and Public Policy at the Melbourne Business School.   » Continue Reading

Aneace Haddad links to this article on Gulfnews.com that reports that some gas station chains in Dubai have stopped accepting credit cards because of an increase in merchant fees.

Wells Fargo Merchant Services has published a useful guide for merchants on how they can ensure they are achieving the best interchange rates on their payment card acceptance. The guide, "The Merchant’s Guide To Achieving Better Interchange Rates" can be downloaded online.

In a post titled "Merchants will pay 7-9% for a full payment service which delivers sales vs. 2% interchange for payment alone", Aneace Haddad blogs about last week's Welcome 2007 User Summit in Dubai where "several banks gave presentations which showed how they were achieving impressive results by enveloping the payment transaction within an overall service that solves real problems for merchants (like identifying and attracting infrequent customers and encouraging them to spend more, which is a really big problem)."

The Merchants Payments Coalition has announced that it has "delivered to members of the House Judiciary Committee's Antitrust Task Force a detailed report responding to questions about Visa and MasterCard's hidden credit card interchange fees raised by Representative Ric Keller, R-Fla., at a recent hearing."   » Continue Reading

Jeffrey Selingo reports for the New York Times about merchant frustrations with the costs of credit card acceptance - as "small businesses in particular complain that their profits are squeezed by card-related fees."

Steve Adams writes for the Patriot Ledger about local merchant concerns about payment card acceptance fees. Adams quotes Jeff Lenard, spokesman for the Washington-based National Association of Convenience Stores, who says "If somebody puts a pack of gum on the counter and pays with a credit card, you’re better off if the person just stole it."

Adam Levitin, associate professor of law at Georgetown University, has been writing this week on the Credit Slips blog. In a post titled "Who's Paying for your Reward Points?", Levitin describes what he calls "the largest component of the fee merchants pay" - that going to fund credit card rewards programs. He continues: "Although merchants finance the rewards programs, they derive little or no benefit from them. Rather than generating additional sales [for merchants], rewards programs merely induce consumers to shift transactions from less expensive payment systems to more expensive rewards credit cards."

John Boyle writes for the Asheville Citizen-Times about local merchant reaction to the fees charged to merchants for payment card acceptance. Boyle quotes a local gasoline retailer: “The thing that really concerns me — and you’ll hear this in Congress from time to time — is how people feel they’re being gouged on gasoline, yet the credit card companies are making the same cents per gallon I am."

The Reserve Bank of Australia's Payments System Board has published its Annual Report (PDF) covering its activities for 2006 and 2007. The report devotes a full chapter to the Card Payments Systems - noting that "much of the Board’s effort has been devoted to improving efficiency and competition in Australia’s retail payments system, particularly the card-based systems" and, especially, interchange fees.   » Continue Reading

Aneace Haddad blogs about a new ad his company - Welcome Real-time - is running that he believes is "probably the first advertisement in the world that specifically addresses interchange protection through new, merchant-centric payment features."

Aneace Haddad blogs about a recent story in the Los Angeles times about merchants offering discounts for cash purchases - vs. cards - and speculates how the future might be very different if merchants had the legal ability to selectively surcharge for cards. He says such a world would "automatically force payment schemes to think seriously about the benefits they provide to merchants when they come up with a new card product with higher interchange fees attached."

Elizabeth Douglass of the Los Angeles TImes reports on how more gas stations are offering consumers discounts for paying with cash instead of credit cards. According to Douglass, the merchants are trying "to dodge the rising fees that credit card companies tack onto transactions."

In a post titled "Who will pay? And how?", Dave Birch blogs about the emerging payment alternatives for eCommerce payments (PayPal, Bill Me Later, and Google Checkout) and suggests that merchants who have become increasingly frustrated about the costs of traditional payment card acceptance now have new choices available.

The Merchants Payments Coalition issued another press release today saying that "merchants welcomed lawmaker concern over credit card interchange practices at a hearing this week in the House Judiciary Committee's Antitrust Task Force. The Merchants Payments Coalition (MPC) chairman and senior vice president and general counsel of the National Retail Federation Mallory Duncan told the panel that the collective setting of interchange fees by Visa and MasterCard is a violation of federal antitrust laws. MPC advocates a payment system that is transparent and open to competition."   » Continue Reading

Yesterday, the US House Judiciary Committee Antitrust Task Force held a hearing to examine credit card interchange fees. Mehgan Belanger reports for Convenience Store News on the many inconsistencies and "opposing facts regarding the fees that banks charge merchants for accepting credit-card payments."

Progressive Grocer also reports on yesterday's hearing.

Testimony from today's US House Judiciary Committee Antitrust Task Force hearing on credit card interchange is now available on the task force's web site. Click on the name of the witness to access the prepared testimony.

The Merchants Payments Coalition issued a press release regarding the testimony of Mallory Duncan, Senior Vice President and General Counsel of the National Retail Federation and Chairman of the Merchants Payments Coalition. Duncan "called the collective setting of interchange fees by Visa and MasterCard a violation of federal antitrust laws that costs merchants and their customers more than $36 billion every year."

The US House Judiciary Committee Antitrust Task Force is holding a hearing this Thursday, July 19, on the subject of credit card interchange fees. According to the Task Force's web site, testimony at the hearing will be provided by John Buhrmaster, President, First National Bank of Scotia, New York; Mallory Duncan, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, National Retail Federation; Edward Mierzwinski, Consumer Program Director, U.S. PIRG; Tim Muris, Of Counsel; O’Melveny & Meyers; and Steve Smith, President and Chief Executive Officer K-VA-T Food Stores, Inc.

The Merchants Payments Coalition has begun running a series of advertisements in Washington newspapers in anticipation of a hearing on interchange fees scheduled to be held Thursday by the House Judiciary Committee's Antitrust Task Force.   »