Poll question: ‘Swipe fee’ debate

Competition is good for the consumer, right?

That’s a big part of the argument put forth by the National Lumber and Building Material Dealers Association and the National Retail Federation in favor of the Credit Card Competition Act, which would require that there be at least two competing processing networks enabled on each card.

Credit and debit card swipe fees have more than doubled over the past decade and soared 16.7% in 2022 alone to a record $160.7 billion, according to stats shared by the NLBMDA.

Meanwhile, the NRF says the potential savings for the American consumer amount to about $15 billion per year.

Moreover, the NRF says U.S. retailers and merchants pay the highest swipe fees in the industrialized world — $126.4 billion in swipe fees were paid by businesses for credit card transactions in 2022, a 20% increase from the previous year.

Of course, there are (at least) two sides to every bill. Voices in the banking industry (like this one)  suggest that the CCCA would reduce security – allowing retailers to make transactions through cheaper,  perhaps inferior, networks. They also suggest the bill would reduce or eliminate funding for credit card rewards programs. (The NRF disagrees.)

With that background, here’s this week’s poll:

HBSDealer invites you to elaborate on your opinion. Share your thoughts with us at [email protected].