Credit Card Fees
NACS retail members cite credit card fees as their third largest store-level operating expense, following labor and rent. In 2008, the convenience and petroleum retailing industry reported a pre-tax profit of $5.2 billion and $8.4 billion paid in credit card fees. At the motor fuel dispenser, credit card fees are often greater than the profit a retailer earns on each gallon sold. The largest component of these fees is interchange (also known as "swipe fees"), which is a fee charged by the cardholder's bank to the retailer's bank and passed on to the retailer. Since 2001, interchange fees have tripled and last year cost Main Street businesses and American consumers roughly $48 billion. Interchange fees are far higher than the actual processing costs and risks involved, yet these transactions fees continue to rise.

NACS is urging Congress to persuade the credit card companies to explain their fees, practices and policies to our industry and the public. In addition, NACS is asking Congress to level the playing field between merchants and the credit card companies to enable honest negotiations concerning rates and terms of credit card acceptance. This issue is a primary focus for NACS. Click on the links below to learn more about recent legislation:

• What does the Durbin amendment do?
• Facts about Durbin and banks
• Small banks and the Durbin amendment
• Pro-swipe fee reform letter from Reps Welch, Shuster and Carney
• Swipe fee reform misrepresentations by banking industry allies
• List of U.S. Representatives against swipe fee reform
• Letter from U.S. Representatives against swipe fee reform

NACS is the named plaintiff in a class action suing not only Visa and MasterCard, but also their issuing banks. This suit has been combined with over 40 other suits and has been given the lead status in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. At the same time, NACS has helped form the Merchants Payments Coalition, which is working for a more competitive and transparent credit card fee system that better serves American consumers and merchants alike.

• Credit Card Interchange Fees
  Credit card companies and their member banks engage in anti-competitive activities to collectively set the outrageous rates they charge retailers for processing transactions. This behavior has forced the convenience and petroleum retailing industry to pay the credit card companies more than twice as much as it makes in annual profit. NACS is pursuing legislation to address this problem.
• Credit Card Expiration Date
  Legislation passed both U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate to clarify retailer responsibilities when printing credit and debit card transaction receipts. Current law is intended to remove the threat of frivolous lawsuits and help with the defense of already filed litigation.