WASHINGTON, DC — Supporters of the Durbin-Marshall credit card mandates have spent years building their case on cherry-picked statistics, half truths and numbers stripped of critical context. Their claim merchants’ procesing has “doubled” is a perfect example.
FACT: Card-processing rates have remained virtually flat while the revenue merchants receive from credit and debit card purchases is what has doubled over the last decade.
According to the Nilson Report, the average card-processing rate ranged from approximately 1.49% to 1.59% between 2015 and 2025 — a change of just 0.10 percentage points over an entire decade.
Meanwhile, card purchase volume grew from less than $6 trillion to more than $12 trillion during that same time.
Card processing is a service merchants choose because it increases sales, protects against fraud and ensures timely, reliable payments.
So, when supporters claim merchants’ total processing costs “doubled,” ask for the rest of the story.
The facts are clear: Card sales doubled. Processing rates barely moved.
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