Financial Innovation Now (FIN), an alliance of companies including Amazon, Apple, Google, Intuit and PayPal, spoke out against a provision in the Financial CHOICE Act that would repeal debit swipe fee reform.
In a letter sent to House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) last week, the organization said it has “significant concerns” over the plan to repeal the swipe fee reforms passed in 2010 as part of the Durbin Amendment to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act.
The Durbin Amendment put a cap on charges stores pay banks when a customer uses the card.
“Congress recognized that consumers and small businesses are not well served when few stakeholders have control over the payments system,” FIN wrote in the letter. They added that debit swipe fee reform has “led the way to competitive pricing and routing that has enabled companies to drive alternative payment technologies.”
FIN encouraged members of Congress to reject any efforts to repeal the reforms, which have saved consumers and businesses money, they said.
The group also asked Congress to “look for ways to speed commerce and lower payment costs by scrutinizing technological barriers to payment security and explore ways to foster payment authentication methods that are more standards-based, open, and interoperable.”
The National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) also expressed its disappointment in the House Financial Services Committee’s action to repeal swipe fee reforms through the passage of the Financial CHOICE Act.
“As long as H.R. 10 includes a repeal of debit swipe fee reform, NACS urges the House of Representatives to reject it,” Lyle Beckwith, NACS senior vice president of government relations, said. “Debit reform has saved consumers and businesses $40 billion already. It makes no sense for the House to even consider a bill that would take away these pro-competitive, successful reforms.”