ALEXANDRIA, VA - "(C)redit card interchange, like debit interchange, is fixable in Washington," wrote Andrew Kahr, a principal in Credit Builders LLC, in a March 5 op-ed in American Banker.
And the banking community as a whole obviously feels the same way, which is why it is fighting so hard against not only credit card reform, but existing debit reform.
The banking industry is telling Congress that consumers are not benefitting from the Durbin Amendment. We know this is not true, and we are collecting overwhelming visual documentation to show the scope and breadth of cash and debit discounting. We need your help to do so. With NACS Day on Capitol Hill coming up on March 21, we want to show members of Congress that retailers are living up to their commitment to pass swipe fee savings on to consumers.
The banking industry is fighting hard to repeal our hard-earned victories, and has both organization and resources. As Kahr notes, "One reason why the U.S. has among the highest interchange rates on earth is that our financial industry is much more concentrated, organized and politically influential than our retailers."
NACS aims to change that dynamic. Here??s what we are asking you to do:
- Tell us if you are offering any discounts for cash and/or debit transactions.
- Attach photos of signage at your stores that communicates the discount. This could be gas pump prices or inside the store.
- Tell us in what city and state each photo was taken.
- Stay engaged on this issue.
Please send the information via e-mail to discounts@nacsonline.com. If you have any questions or comments, please share them with Lyle Beckwith, NACS senior vice president of government relations, at (703) 518-4220, or Jeff Lenard, NACS vice president of industry advocacy, at (703) 518-4272.
If you need any more incentive to help us, here are a few more excerpts from Kahr??s op-ed, entitled "Durbin Doomsday Never Came."
"Every now and then some doomsday cultist predicts the end of the world, but it doesn't occur. No big news.
Same in banking. The first-ever restriction on card interchange ?" a 50% cut for debit cards ?" was predicted by banking cultists to have cataclysmic consequences. It would put community banks out of business. Enrage millions of consumers who would be deprived of cherished 'free?? checking. Slash debit card activity. Remember the choral yelling and finger pointing?
None of the above happened.
Durbin was a non-event, just as the first-ever 'government price-fixing?? for credit cards (late fees), in 2010, was a non-event. If reducing credit card interchange by 1%, roughly half, will wipe out free rewards, then it will cost banks nearly nothing. Definitely non-fatal."