The Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) released new poll results on how Americans feel about legislation to create credit card routing mandates.
The survey stems from the Credit Card Competition Act (S. 1838/H.R. 3881), introduced by Sens. Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Roger Marshall (R-KS). The proposed bill would allow large merchants to route credit card transactions on the network that is least costly to them.
However, ICBA points out that it would also require credit card networks and issuers—including community banks—to change the technology that is currently used to conduct credit transactions.
“ICBA and the nation’s community banks strongly oppose controversial credit card legislation that would reduce access to credit card services in local communities, weaken cybersecurity protections, and end popular credit card rewards programs solely to benefit large retailers like Amazon and Walmart,” ICBA President and CEO Rebeca Romero Rainey said. “Our latest polling shows Americans are likewise concerned about the risks of new credit card routing mandates.”
The ICBA poll, conducted by Morning Consult, revealed some exciting results when asked about this. Specifically, it found that 66 percent of adults — including 72 percent of Democrats and 67 percent of Republicans — said that big-box stores would likely choose cheaper, less secure networks to process credit card transactions.
Also, 71 percent said changing the technology that is used to conduct credit transactions at the register is risky, while 69 percent said merchants would likely keep their cost savings for themselves.
Further, a majority – including 54 percent of Democrats and 60 percent of Republicans — said consumers are likely to bear the costs of the technology changes. In addition, 56 percent said the changes would have a negative effect on inflation, while 55 percent anticipated a negative impact on the economy.
ICBA officials added that a recent University of Miami study found that the Durbin-Marshall bill would disproportionately benefit the nation’s top five businesses while putting small retailers at a further competitive disadvantage.