Berger underscores Durbin Amendment fallbacks following interchange hearing

Following Wednesday’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing to discuss interchange fees, NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger issued a response asking lawmakers who they’re truly representing: American consumers or merchants?

“Rather than interfering with the efficient way credit cards work today, it’s time to hold big-box retailers and e-commerce giants accountable for their failure to pass savings along to consumers that were promised under the failed Durbin Amendment,” stated Berger. “With more than 70 percent of U.S. GDP dependent on consumer spending, credit unions understand that now more than ever we need to put Main Street businesses and families first and reject the merchants’ call for new laws that would make basic banking services even more expensive for working-class Americans.”

Ahead of the hearing, NAFCU along with other trades submitted a statement for the record strongly opposing interchange regulations. In the statement, the group expressed how government interference with debit interchange under section 1075 of the Dodd-Frank Act, also known as the ‘Durbin amendment,’ has harmed community financial institutions and consumers.

The groups called out merchants for misleading both Congress and American consumers by having promised to lower prices after the Durbin Amendment passed and falsely promising again that they will lower prices if Congress intervenes on credit card interchange.

 

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