The bill may look sensible on the surface. But it’s a mistake to try conjuring up competition by diktat. Since his unsuccessful efforts in 2008 and 2009 to impose price controls on merchants’ card-acceptance costs, longtime payments-industry nemesis Sen. Ricard Durbin, D-Ill., has been on a crusade to gut the …

The Electronic Payments Coalition’s attack this week against the Credit Card Competition Act calls out retailers Target Corp. and Walmart as greedy mega-corporate stores that stand to profit at the expense of consumers should the legislation pass. The aggressive tone of the EPC’s “high six-figure” campaign, unleashed this week, signals …

The payments industry and the merchant community are pushing messages against and for the Credit Card Competition Act. Congress will decide who wins. Since the reintroduction a year ago of the Credit Card Competition Act, the bill’s proponents and opponents have unleashed high-octane marketing campaigns to sway legislators and the …

Claims by banks that merchants won’t pass along savings from the Credit Card Competition Act to consumers are grossly misleading and do not reflect the economic realities merchants face, argues the Merchants Payments Coalition, a lobbying group representing sellers on payments-acceptance matters. Passing along cost savings or at least holding …

Despite some claims to the contrary, the odds are long that merchants would pass on any potential savings to consumers from the Credit Card Competition Act, payments experts say. One argument for this is that merchants price products on a line-item basis, which means the savings on a single product …

A trade group representing card networks and issuers is taking aim at restaurant surcharges and price increases by large grocers as part of its efforts to defeat the Credit Card Competition Act. The Electronic Payments Coalition earlier this spring fired its first salvo in its new campaign against the CCCA. …