NEA, NAACP Swallow Bankers’ Line on Swipe Fees
swiping from the customers? photo: catatronic)
The amendment to the Dodd-Frank legislation reducing the cost of interchange fees for debit and credit cards passed with a supermajority in the Senate. It went through the normal process and it won. Now the banks, in a slightly stronger position than during the Dodd-Frank debate, are trying to get the changes delayed, and effectively killed. They’re using a silly argument that this will result in higher costs for consumers. They have the ability to control those costs. Whatever higher costs would come in the form of fees for using debit cards or restrictions on high-dollar debit card purchases or fees for checking accounts, all imposed by the banks. They cannot imagine a world where their profits are in any way lower, so they have to “make up” the reduction in interchange fees.
Now, competition would ensue and some bank would offer free checking to increase volume, and people would flock to it. But the big banks don’t really want to compete on quality of service and price. They want a license to
