Credit Card Competition Act Gains New Senate Support

A trio of senators have lent their support to the Credit Card Competition Act.

Sens. Angus King, I-Maine, Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., and Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, have signed on as co-sponsors of the bill, which is opposed by banks and credit unions and supported by merchants payments groups and retailers.

“Each of these senators deserves credit for standing up to Wall Street megabanks and global card networks,” Merchants Payments Coalition executive committee member and National Association of Convenience Stores general counsel Doug Kantor said in a news release. “Main Street businesses and their everyday customers will benefit. Swipe fees have been driving up the price of just about everything for far too long and we appreciate these senators striking a blow to stop it.”

As covered here last year, the CCCA would, among other things, allow card payments to be routed over at least one network that competes with Mastercard and Visa.

Supporters argue that expanding the routing will have the ripple effect of lowering so-called swipe fees. President Donald Trump endorsed the bill in January, writing on his Truth Social that the CCCA would “stop the out-of-control swipe fee rip-off.”

However, banking and credit union groups contend that nearly all the savings delivered by the bill would go to large corporate retailers, while small businesses would lose up to $1 billion in rewards and see less access to credit, and low-income consumers and those with damaged credit would have less access to credit cards.

Meanwhile a report by credit union-focused news outlet CU Today noted that both Lummis and Moreno are involved in negotiations around Clarity Act, the cryptocurrency market structure bill.

That bill has been held up in the Senate throughout the year, with lawmakers expected to take a procedural vote next month that could set the stage for a full floor vote.

Jason Stverak, chief advocacy officer for the Defense Credit Union Council, told CU Today that the senators’ involvement raises the chances that supports will try to put forth the Credit Card Competition Act (CCCA) as an amendment to another piece of legislation or use it as leverage in broader financial-services negotiations.

“Credit unions cannot allow themselves to become collateral damage in a political dispute,” said Stverak. “Credit unions did not create the current disagreement over digital asset legislation, and military families should not pay the price through legislation that would weaken fraud prevention, cybersecurity investments, payment innovation and member services.”