Credit unions stand united against credit card mandate bill
The credit union movement stands united in opposition to the Credit Card Competition Act (CCCA), and America’s Credit Unions, the American Association of Credit Union Leagues (AACUL), and all state leagues wrote to House and Senate members Friday. The CCCA—reintroduced last week in both chambers — would bring harmful new mandates to the credit card processing system, which includes interchange.
“Government intervention in the interchange market affects all market participants, including smaller institutions below what is meant to be an exemption threshold. Those smaller institutions, including our credit union members, have seen a precipitous erosion of their per-transaction debit interchange revenue as a result of the Durbin Amendment,” the letter reads. “Taking similar steps on credit card interchange would cause even more harm, not only to the institutions, but to the members they serve.”
America’s Credit Unions, AACUL, and leagues note that the bill, sponsored by Sens. Dick Durbin, D- Ill., and Roger Marshall, R-Kansas, in the Senate, would harm:
- Consumers' data privacy and security. Fraudulent debit card transactions have doubled since the Durbin Amendment took effect in 2011. The CCCA would allow retailers to choose cheaper, less secure networks when processing credit cards;
- Access to credit, as interchange helps credit unions provide low-cost products, especially in rural, underserved, and low-income communities; and
- Consumers who already face increased costs under the Durbin Amendment and would experience new cost increases with these credit card mandates.
America’s Credit Unions urged Congress to reject the bill in any form in a letter sent earlier last week, and the unified voice of the credit union movement will continue to oppose the CCCA and other similar price control efforts that would ultimately harm consumers and communities.