Credit cards offer security, convenience, rewards, and economic benefits. They help protect against fraud, provide flexible payment options, and support rewards that many families rely on for everyday spending.
Interchange is a cost paid by merchants to card-issuing banks when a customer pays with a credit or debit card. It helps fund fraud protection, rewards programs, and the payment networks that make secure transactions possible.
The proposed Durbin-Marshall legislation would impose government price controls on credit card interchange, similar to the Durbin Amendment that already regulates debit cards. EPC opposes these mandates because they would upend the nation's payment system and harm consumers, small businesses, and community financial institutions.
The Durbin Amendment (sometimes referred to as The Credit Card Competition Act or "CCCA") is a 2010 law that capped interchange on debit card transactions. It is often cited as a model for the Durbin-Marshall credit card mandates, but the debit experience shows that savings did not flow to consumers as promised. Instead, fraud attempts increased, consumers saw the same or higher prices, while benefits like free checking and debit rewards were eliminated.
Consumers, small businesses, credit unions, and community banks would all be affected. Consumers could lose rewards and fraud protections; small businesses could face higher costs, less access to credit and more liability; and credit unions and community banks could see reduced revenue that supports local services.
Credit card rewards, fraud protection, and the ability of credit unions and community banks to serve their members and customers are at risk. Government price controls could weaken the payment system that consumers and businesses rely on.
Yes. Credit cards include fraud monitoring, zero-liability policies, and alerts for suspicious activity. They are one of the most secure ways for consumers to pay and for merchants to accept payments.
Yes. Rewards are funded in part by interchange. Government caps on interchange would likely reduce or eliminate many rewards programs that families use for travel, cash back, and everyday purchases.
Credit cards give small businesses fast, secure payment processing, reduced cash handling, and greater access to customers. Credit card transactions also typically result in sales 2-4x larger as compared to cash payments. And when a customer pays with a credit card, the network or card issuer take on the risk of non-payment, protecting from any potential credit loss. Interchange helps fund the fraud protection and global infrastructure that make this possible.
