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Gas Retailers Gained a $1 Billion Subsidy from Durbin Amendment

New data finds that gas retailers are saving a $1 billion annually at the expense of consumers, thanks to the so-called “Durbin amendment,” a provision of the Dodd-Frank legislation which capped what retailers pay to accept debit cards beginning in October 2011.  According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, nearly 134 billion gallons of gas were sold in 2011, with approximately 48 billion gallons purchased using debit – the type of payment impacted by the Durbin amendment, which reduced interchange rates by about 70 percent for this category.
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Where’s the Debit Discount?

The research presented in this document sought to identify evidence that retail customers are not seeing any benefit from these price controls. This exercise compared identical baskets of goods before and after the October 1st implementation of the Durbin amendment, through a total of 84 shopping trips at 21 retail locations of four major national retail brands in six diverse U.S. cities. Our field research found no evidence of any savings being passed along to consumers in the form of lower prices as a result of the Durbin amendment price controls. Of the 21 retail locations studied, 16 locations – 76 percent – either raised prices or kept them the same before and after the Durbin amendment went into effect. Just five stores lowered their prices after October 1st. Overall, customers paid an average of 1.7 percent more for the same products after the Fed rule was implemented.
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Bloomberg Government Study: Business Impact of the Dodd-Frank Debit Fee Cap

The Federal Reserve’s debit interchange fee cap, which went into effect on Oct. 1, may cost the banking industry $8 billion annually. The top 10 U.S. banks say they intend to recoup about 50 percent of that lost revenue by driving customers to new products, growing their customer bases and removing reward programs. They may also add new fees, though most of the large banks have discarded plans to charge for debit card usage.
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Angry About Rising Debit Card Fees?

A new video released by the Financial Services Committee asks viewers a simple question: Angry about rising debit card fees? The video explains how the higher fees on consumers are the direct result of a regulation in the Dodd-Frank Act known as the Durbin amendment. The video also shows there were plenty of warnings that the Durbin amendment would, in fact, result in these higher banking fees. Clips show members of Congress, regulators and statements from organizations all warning that a likely result of the Dodd-Frank regulation would be — as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is seen saying in the video — “a charge for a debit card or something like that.” The Durbin amendment was added to the Dodd-Frank Act during the House-Senate conference that wrote the final version of the bill. It was added without a single hearing or vote taking place in the House on the Durbin amendment and its ramifications.
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