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Electronic Payments Coalition |

Letter from EPC and Its Members on H.R. 2205

In October 2015, Electronic Payments Coalition and some of its members sent a letter to the Hill in support of H.R. 2205, the Data Security Act. Members who signed include Credit Union National Association (CUNA), Consumer Bankers Association (CBA), Financial Services Roundtable (FSR), Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA), National Association of Federal Credit Unions (NAFCU) and American Bankers Association (ABA).
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Electronic Payments Coalition |

EPC Applauds Zywicki Testimony Assessing Negative Impact of the Durbin Amendment on Consumers

  A statement from Molly Wilkinson, executive director of the Electronic Payments Coalition (EPC) praising testimony from Professor Todd Zywicki at the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, & Urban Affairs hearing today: Price controls on debit card transactions, which were enacted through the Durbin Amendment, have created a hand out for retailers that so far has reached $36 billion and continues to rise each year. Professor Zywicki’s testimony made this padding by large retailers evident by noting, “While the Durbin Amendment has saved big box retailers billions of dollars per year in interchange fees, there is no evidence to date that those cost savings have been passed on to retail consumers. In short, consumers are paying higher fees for bank accounts and receiving no rebates from retailers. Indeed, unlike big box retailers that have received multi-billion dollar windfalls, many small retailers are actually paying higher merchant discount rates than before the Durbin Amendment’s enactment.” Retailers promised to pass this sum along to their customers in the form of lower prices but customers are still waiting to see a difference. Zywicki’s insightful testimony supports EPC’s mission of promoting consumer convenience, innovation, and competition. As he states, “the presence of the
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Electronic Payments Coalition |

New Data Shows Consumers Want Innovative Options to Stay Protected at the Register

82 percent of voters agree that consumers should have a choice about what type of payment technology they want to use, according to a new Morning Consult poll released today. Almost one year after President Obama’s Summit on Cybersecurity and Consumer Protection, this new survey reveals consumer attitudes toward cybersecurity and electronic payments. Of the 2,028 registered voters surveyed, 75 percent agree stores should move as quickly as possible to adopt new forms of electronic payments that would help protect consumer information. Over six in 10 voters (63 percent) say stores and retailers should offer a number of payment types that consumers think are secure, compared to less than two in ten (19 percent) that say stores or retailers should only accept payment types that store prefers.
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Competitive Enterprise Institute |

Interchange Fee Warnings Coming True in EU

We have often warned about the negative effects of interchange fee regulation and specifically a cap on interchange fees. Last year we warned the European Parliament that a proposed EU-wide cap on interchange fees would cause many banks to raise fees and interest rates on all their customers, not just those who use debit or credit cards. We said: Capping interchange fees has been tried in some countries around the world.  Despite claims that these efforts were for the benefit of consumers, the real world results have shown the opposite to be true. In every instance, consumers faced higher fees for banking services, a reduction in benefits and services and saw no return in the form of lower prices from merchants despite promises by merchants and policy makers to pass savings to consumers. We also noted in April that banks were already cutting back on card reward schemes. The negative effects of this arbitrary cap on interchange fees are now being widely felt in Europe and are playing out exactly as we expected. Banks earning less on interest and interchange fees will raise customer fees to compensate for losses in other fields of activity: The first domino to fall was
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Toronto Sun |

Loyalty program critics protect you from yourself

At first blush, you might well wonder why anyone would be against loyalty programs. Whether you earn points by shopping at a particular store or by using a particular credit card, you are rewarded for your loyalty. Maybe you exchange your points for a discount on airfare for a sun-filled vacation. It’s all voluntary, and everyone involved seems to benefit. Yet several interest groups, such as the Public Interest Advocacy Centre, have recently taken aim at loyalty programs. One criticism is that the benefits consumers receive are not worth as much as what the program operators get out of it. Canadian consumers seem to disagree, as 89% of us adhere to at least one loyalty program.
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Electronic Payments Coalition |

EPC Statement on The Data Security Act of 2015 (H.R. 2205) Markup

The recent deluge of data breaches at major retailers around the country has caused millions of consumers’ personal and financial information to be exposed. Thankfully, the House Financial Services Committee today advanced an important piece of legislation that will better protect consumer data by ensuring that retailers are held to common sense data security standards that were adopted by the payments industry years ago. The Data Security Act of 2015 (H.R. 2205) will ensure that retailers adopt scalable, flexible common sense data security standards that protect consumers’ personal and financial information when in the hands of retailers, which is exactly what consumers want. Just this morning, a Morning Consult poll found that 92 percent of voters agree that stores and retailers should adopt the latest technology and best practices to keep Americans secure. The payments industry is constantly working to improve data security through technologies like EMV, tokenization and biometrics and has upheld strong data security standards for consumers for over a decade. Unfortunately, the system is only as strong as its weakest link and retailers have yet to adopt these same common sense standards. This legislation is an important step forward and we thank Reps. Neugebauer, Carney and all of
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Electronic Payments Coalition |

EPC Statement on House Energy and Commerce Mobile Payments Hearing

Today the House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade held a hearing to discuss the mobile payments landscape. Mobile payment solutions, such as Apple Pay, Samsung Pay and others increase security, competition and consumer choice. For years the payments industry has been a leader in mobile payments and has worked with cross-industry partners to introduce new payments methods and develop security solutions that work across a wide range of platforms. These security solutions include more secure ways to verify your identity, such as biometrics, and to make the data you transmit less valuable, with technology like encryption and tokenization. While mobile payments greatly enhance our ability to protect transactions, we also need common sense data security standards that will help ensure that retailers, financial institutions and networks treat consumers’ financial data with care. More information is available at www.electronicpaymentscoalition.org. ### About the Electronic Payments Coalition The Electronic Payments Coalition (EPC) includes credit unions, banks, and payment card networks that move electronic payments quickly and securely between millions of merchants and millions of consumers across the globe. EPC’s goal is to protect the value, innovation, convenience and competition in today’s growing electronic payments system. EPC
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