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Main Street America says excessive swipe fees hinder job growth and unfairly raise consumer prices
Small business owners from across the country joined Consumers for Competitive Choice (C4CC) President Bob Johnson, Executive Director Jim Conran, and Jennifer Cavallaro, Owner of The Beehive Cafe in Bristol, RI in Washington, DC, today to discuss with Members of Congress the negative impacts of excessive credit card interchange (or “swipe”) fees on their business.

Small businesses representing Main Street America shared personal stories and urged Congress to immediately reform these fees. The briefing comes on the heels of Visa and MasterCard earnings announcements. Visa posted a profit of $763 million for the quarter ending December 31 – up 33 percent from a year ago. In the last quarter, MasterCard’s profit jumped 23 percent to $294 million.

“Credit card companies are notorious for the bad behavior and one of the worst abuses on their list is interchange fees. These swiping fees are costing small businesses and consumers $90,000 a minute – every minute of every day. This means less money for businesses to hire workers and higher prices for consumers across the board,” Mr. Johnson said. “Right now Visa and MasterCard are in a race against each other to charge higher interchange fees in order to give bigger profits to their big bank issuers. I think the American people have already bailed out the banks enough – now it’s time to help out small businesses and consumers.”
“Visa and MasterCard’s recent earnings announcements show they’re making huge profits and will undoubtedly lead to big bonuses for company executives. There is something fundamentally wrong with a system where these companies are flourishing on the backs of small businesses on Main Street who are forced to raise prices and cut staff just to keep the lights on,” Mr. Johnson said.
“Throughout the last decade interchange rates have increased more than 300% - exceeding both health care and energy cost increases by a wide margin,” Mr. Conran said. “The rates have become excessive and are not reflective of the true cost of actually processing the transaction. As these fees eat up potential profits for small businesses, it means fewer jobs and higher prices at a time when our country can’t afford either. With millions of people out of work, we can’t ignore the fact that excessive interchange fees are stifling job growth on Main Streets across the country.”

SOURCE Consumers for Competitive Choice