The Credit Card Competition Act (CCCA) was reintroduced last week and would require credit cards issued by banks with more than $100 billion in assets to offer merchants the choice between two unaffiliated card networks, at least one of which cannot be Visa or Mastercard. While framed as a competition measure, this proposal would undermine the security and reliability of the payments system and have real consequences for credit unions and their members.

WHAT WE’RE DOING
The MD|DC Credit Union Association has joined other state Leagues and the American Association of Credit Union Leagues, along with America’s Credit Unions in opposing the CCCA. This includes signing on to a joint letter expressing concerns about the proposal, as well as sending letters directly to members of the Maryland, Delaware, and District of Columbia congressional delegations.

HOW TO TAKE ACTION
Click here to personalize an email under “Keep our payments system secure” to contact your U.S. Senators and U.S. Representative, urging them to NOT support or co-sign the CCCA, or support any amendments to add that language to another bill.

KEY FACTS TO SUPPORT YOUR MESSAGE
To assist with outreach, the following information may be helpful. A fact sheet produced by the Electronic Payments Coalition (EPC) highlights key realities about the proposal’s impact:

Fact #1: The interchange rate has remained virtually flat as merchant sales have grown substantially. The only reason a merchant would pay more for interchange is because their sales went up proportionally.

Fact #2: Interchange is not the second largest expense for most businesses. The average small business pays for rent, wages and benefits, taxes, advertising, inventory, utilities, insurance and cost of managing cash – dwarfing the cost of credit card acceptance.

Fact #3: Consumers will not see any savings from routing mandates: After the 2010 Durbin Amendment capped debit interchange, a Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond study found that 98% of merchants either raised prices or kept them the same.

Fact #4: The so-called small bank exemption is meaningless: Data from the Federal Reserve shows that community banks and credit unions have seen debit interchange losses between 10% -30% from 2011 to 2019.

For more resources, visit America’s Credit Unions website and its Grassroots Action Center.