FORT WORTH, TX – Former NACS Chairman Bill Douglass penned an op-ed for the Star-Telegram earlier this week, highlighting how the current swipe fee scenario impacts businesses and consumers.

“The cost of doing business in North Texas could start coming down if federal banking regulators heed a U.S. district court ruling and Congress follows the lead of the European Union,” he begins, arguing for the credit card industry to embrace “competition” and “transparency … something that is sorely lacking today and is why U.S. merchants and consumers pay the highest credit and debit card fees in the world.”

Douglass said that the fees are the second highest expense for his company after labor, a cost that many merchants must pass on to consumers through higher prices.

“So any move to lower the fee will benefit both merchants and consumers,” he said.

Douglass said that the card companies are entitled to make a profit, “but one generated by marketplace competition, not price-fixing.

“But Visa and MasterCard, which are run by and for the nation’s biggest banks, together control 80 percent of the electronic payments marketplace. As a direct result of that ‘duopoly,’ they can and do charge businesses fees that are set in secret by the credit card companies.

“ … [W]hat’s needed now is prompt action by the Fed to reduce debit card fees and by Congress to ensure that price-fixing ends and competition and transparency are in place to bring credit card swipe fees to levels comparable to those in the European Union,” he concluded.