SUPERMARKET SHOPPERS TELL SENATOR SPECTER WHAT THEY THINK ABOUT HIDDEN CREDIT CARD FEES
Washington, DC – February 21, 2007 Sen. Arlen Specter, ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, visited the Giant Food supermarket in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania today and heard directly from shoppers and Giant CEO Carl Schlicker about the impact of hidden credit card “interchange” fees.
Interchange fees are charged to merchants by Visa and MasterCard every time a customer uses a credit or debit card. Interchange fees are set in secret, and unlike other credit card fees, they are not disclosed to consumers. Interchange fees add an average of two percent to every credit card transaction. Visa, MasterCard and their member banks collect more than $30 billion in interchange fees every year.
Last year Sen. Specter held a hearing on interchange fees and found what he later called a “disturbing pattern of anticompetitive conduct by credit card companies.”
“We’re pleased that Sen. Specter is taking time to look at this problem first hand and talk directly with the people who have to pay the bill,” said John Motley, Senior Vice President of Government and Public Affairs, Food Marketing Institute (FMI). FMI is a leading member of the Merchants Payments Coalition (MPC), an organization of retailers fighting for a more competitive and transparent system of credit card fees.
“Interchange fees are like a hidden tax that we all have to pay whether or not we use credit and debit cards,” Motley added. “We hope Sen. Specter and his colleagues will keep up the pressure on the big credit card companies and force them to do the right thing for retailers and consumers.”
The Merchants Payments Coalition, a group of nearly 30 associations representing retailers, supermarkets, drug stores, convenience stores, fuel stations, on-line merchants and other businesses that accept debit and credit cards, is fighting for a more competitive and transparent card system that works better for consumers and merchants alike. The coalition’s member associations collectively represent about 2.7 million stores with approximately 50 million employees. For further information, please visit http://www.unfaircreditcardfees.com.