As big box retailers push Congress to impose more government mandates on card payment systems and interchange, a new study reveals the continued negative impact of interchange legislation on consumers, small businesses, and financial services options. 

CUNA and American Association of Credit Union Leagues (AACUL) commissioned Cornerstone Advisors to study the impact of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act’s Durbin Amendment, which implemented debit card routing mandates and debit interchange price caps. The study includes the financial impact from existing and proposed regulations – including the interchange bill introduced this Congress by Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill.

“The research clearly shows that imposing a government mandate on interchange didn’t help consumers or small businesses the first time around,” says Jim Nussle, CUNA president/CEO. “To keep credit cards accessible and safe, merchants must have equal responsibility to protect the data and systems that enable their quick and secure payments. Cutting credit card interchange with this new bill would help big box retailers avoid responsibility and put consumers at greater risk. We’ve seen the unintended consequences from the Durbin Amendment for more than a decade. Let’s not double down on a bad idea.”

According to the study, debit card routing mandates brought ongoing negative impacts, regardless of any exemptions built in for smaller financial institutions, and expanding mandates to credit cards would further compound the problem.

“Price controls create an imbalance in a market in contrast to when prices are set through market forces,” the study states. “This imbalance leads to unintended consequences including the increased cost of everyday banking products. The intent of the interchange price controls for debit transactions was to deliver savings to customers at the merchants from which they purchase goods or services. There is a lesson policymakers should have considered nearly a decade before the implementation of Regulation II.”

The study, “The True Impact of Interchange Regulation: How Government Price Controls Increase Consumer Costs and Reduce Security,” 

For more information and to contact your representative in Congress, visit CUNA’s Protect My Card website.