Resources

On October 20, 2021, the Electronic Payments Coalition, alongside eight other undersigned organizations, penned a joint letter to members of the Wisconsin Assembly Committee on Financial Institutions, including Chairwoman Cindi Duchow and Vice-chair Terry Katsma. In the letter, the coalition urged the committee to reject legislation designed to prohibit interchange on the sales tax portion of electronic payments transactions, contending that such legislative proposals are unworkable and would exacerbate current COVID-19 challenges.

There are several myths surrounding the use issue of rewards credit cards, illustrated in Emily Stewart’s piece, “The Ugly Truth Behind Your Fancy Rewards Credit Card.” Addressed below are several faulty claims about credit rewards, which are consistently repeated across a multitude of media outlets as well as groups in opposition to the EPC.

The Durbin Amendment, passed as part of Dodd-Frank in 2010, established a government-imposed price control on interchange fees for debit cards. This cap has resulted in a massive transfer of income from consumers to retailers. In fact, according to a recently-conducted analysis using data from the Federal Reserve, since 2012, issuers have lost nearly $106 billion in interchange revenue — including an estimated $15.2 billion in 2020 alone.

Today, EPC released a new resource that explains what interchange is and how it works, and highlights the overall value it brings to the electronic payments system, including consumers and merchants. It includes information on the growth of electronic payments and how interchange rates have remained steady over time. This resource also addresses common retailer myths.