Speculation has flowed freely about the effects of the controversial “Durbin amendment” on merchants, card issuers, and the payment card networks should the interchange-regulation measure become law. But data about how consumers would be affected are scarce. Javelin Strategy and Research, however, says research it conducted late last year, in …

Issuers of prepaid and gift cards could get an extension of the Aug. 22 deadline for complying with new rules from the Federal Reserve under legislation pending in the U.S. Senate. The so-called ECO-Gift Card bill, sponsored by U.S. Rep. Dan Maffei, D-NY, passed the U.S. House of Representatives on …

Presenting yet another wave of petitions signed by hundreds of thousands of customers, the convenience-store industry turned up the heat on Congress Thursday to enact curbs on debit card interchange. The 1.68 million signed petitions, collected by Speedway SuperAmerica LLC and unveiled by the c-store chain and NACS, an industry …

Fresh from their Senate victory May 13, proponents of interchange regulation on Tuesday urged U.S. House of Representatives leaders to adopt the so-called Durbin amendment that could limit debit card interchange and overturn some bank card network rules in order to make it easier for merchants to discount for other …

With the national spotlight now shining on the Illinois Interchange Fee Prohibition Act, questions are being raised regarding merchants’ ability to comply with the law. The biggest challenge facing merchants will be separating tax and tips on credit or debit card transactions submitted to their card processor so they can …

Days after Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., sent letters to the chief executives of Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. demanding they testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee about their opposition to the Credit Card Competition Act, the Electronic Payments Coalition is asking why the committee is not requesting that leaders of …

Citing a payments industry that is united in its opposition to the Credit Card Competition Act, research from the Congressional Research Service questioning the benefits of the legislation, and suspect support for the bill among members of Congress, the Electronic Payments Coalition says it is primed to continue its fight …

Small businesses claim they have legitimate concerns that their larger counterparts will be the beneficiaries of lower card acceptance costs should the Credit Card Competition Act become law, argues the Small Business Payments Alliance, a trade organization recently formed by the Electronic Payments Coalition. Among the concerns about how the …

The political battle over the Credit Card Competition Act has heated up as the Small Business Payments Alliance (SBPA), a recently formed merchant trade group, has come out in opposition to the proposed legislation. The group argues that, if passed, the CCCA would harm small businesses. The SBPA, which held …

The jury is out—and will remain so for some time—on the Credit Card Competition Act and its chances of becoming the law of the land. One of the bill’s sponsors—and probably its prime mover—is Sen. Richard Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, and on the debit card side of the payments business, …