EPC Applauds Continued Efforts to Repeal Durbin Amendment Price Controls
WASHINGTON (April 19, 2017)–The Electronic Payments Coalition (EPC) applauds Chairman Hensarling for his continued leadership to repeal the Durbin amendment and its harmful price controls. The provision for repeal in the Financial CHOICE Act 2.0 shows Congress is ready to take action on a broken promise to consumers.
“Consumers, credit unions and community banks need relief from Dodd-Frank’s onerous regulations, and that starts by repealing the price controls that generated a windfall for big box retailers but failed to produce meaningful savings for their customers,” said Molly Wilkinson, executive director of the Electronic Payments Coalition. “It’s time to stop the handouts to big box retailers. Repealing the Durbin amendment is the right move for consumers, small businesses, and community financial institutions.”
A new study from Javelin Strategy & Research found small merchants prefer value over these price controls in their interchange partnerships. The findings in this report further underscore that this provision was for the big box retailers instead of Main Street merchants, community banks, and credit unions. Data from the Richmond Federal Reserve shows big box retailers have pocketed $42 billion and counting since the Durbin amendment’s price controls were implemented.
Community banks and small businesses are not the only ones hurt by the Durbin amendment. Although big box retailers promised to pass along savings to consumers, prices were not lowered. According to a Morning Consult survey, consumers want government to stop playing favorites and get out of payments. The majority of customers believe it’s time to repeal the Durbin amendment and the restrictions unfairly placed on financial institutions.
Both consumers and small businesses are suffering under the weight of these broken promises, and EPC applauds Chairman Hensarling’s leadership and efforts to repeal the Durbin Amendment. To learn more about the importance of repealing the Durbin amendment, read the new study from Javelin Strategy and Research. To learn more about the Durbin amendment’s impacts, click here.
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About the Electronic Payments Coalition
The Electronic Payments Coalition (EPC) is a coalition of payments industry stakeholders, such as credit unions, community banks, trade associations, payment card networks and banks that speaks on behalf of the payments industry to protect the value, innovation, convenience, security and competition that exists in the modern electronic payments system. The EPC educates policymakers, consumers and the media on the system’s role in economic growth and the importance of consumer choice, security, innovation and stability for the continued growth of global commerce.