Sen. Crapo Vows to 'Look Into' Interchange Fees

The Idaho senator met with convenience store owners, who delivered a petition signed by more than 24,000 Idaho residents concerned about credit card fees.

April 14, 2010

BOISE, Idaho - After meeting with convenience store owners from his state, Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID) declared he will "look into" concerns about interchange fees, his spokesperson Lindsay Nothern said. Last week, store owners also gave Crapo a petition with the signatures of more than 24,000 Idaho residents concerned about credit and debit card fees.

Nothern told the IdahoReporter.com that the senator will speak with Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT), who chairs the Senate Banking Committee, about reforming swipe fees paid by businesses. Crapo, also a member of the committee, would like to see the issue addressed in a forthcoming bill on financial sector reform. Nothern said the senator would push for fee changes in that legislation even though "none of the Democratic leadership has made it an issue."

Crapo also is thinking about sponsoring a measure that would make banks process debit card transactions as check transactions. Typically, paper checks cost less money to process than debit card transactions.

The senator met with store owners after a press conference led by the retailers and John Eichberger, NACS vice president of government relations, who told reporters about the high swipe fees hurt local stores. One point Eichberger made was that stores cannot charge customers less for cash payments because of contracts with the credit card companies.

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