Credit Card Competition Act could strip consumer perks

SALT LAKE CITY — Congress is getting ready to vote on The Credit Card Competition Act that would add money to retailers’ revenue, but take perks away from credit card customers.

And Mountain America Credit Union’s executive vice president Nathan Anderson, says consumers need to get involved. 

The Credit Card Competition Act is designed to lower the fees retailers pay to exchanges when customers buy things with credit. But the benefit for consumers is questionable if even absent. 

Anderson says the same thing happened in 2010 when legislators allowed retailers to use cheaper exchanges for debit card purchases.

In 2010, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, introduced a bill that reduced the fees stores had to pay on debit card purchases. The hope, then, was that stores would pass their savings onto customers.

Anderson told KSL NewsRadio that instead, big box stores pocketed the fees typically intended for fraud, security, and consumer perks. And customers lost the perks they used to receive using a debit card.

This time around, Sen. Durbin has included the new bill in a larger omnibus bill. 

Anderson said that if the bill passes, fees that consumers pay now for fraud protection and perks will cost people. He wants consumers to get involved by contacting their senators.

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