| February 17, 2011 |
Contact Rachel Wolf |
| For Immediate Release | (202) 331-2120 |
Washington, DC - In testimony submitted in advance of the hearing scheduled for today before the House Financial Services Committee, Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit, several consumer advocacy groups strongly endorse debit swipe fee reforms and urge their timely implementation.
Submitting testimony jointly in support of the bipartisan reforms were U.S. PIRG, The Hispanic Institute and Public Citizen.
From the testimony:
“We strongly support the proposed regulations for several reasons:
- The current swipe fee market is broken and all consumers pay more for less because of escalating swipe fees;
- Sixteen countries and the European Union regulate swipe fees and their experience demonstrates that regulation benefits consumers in lower fees and lower costs of goods;
- There is no evidence that swipe fee regulation will lead to an increase in consumer fees; and
- Reductions in swipe fees should result in substantially lower prices for all consumers.
“These regulations are likely to have substantial benefits and result in saving in everyday goods for consumers.”
The full testimony can be found here.
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The Merchants Payments Coalition is a group of convenience stores, retailers, and small business owners whose membership associations represent approximately 2.7 million stores and 50 million employees. For more information, go to www.unfaircreditcardfees.com or visit us on Twitter.