EPC To Fed Chair: Durbin Amendment Rewards Retailers $36 Billion in Additional Profits, But Provides No Relief to Consumers

Electronic Payments Coalition Executive Director Molly Wilkinson today wrote Fed Chair Janet Yellen to express concerns regarding the detrimental effect the Durbin amendment is having on consumers.

In the letter, which was submitted pursuant to the regulatory review being conducted under the Economic Growth and Regulatory Paperwork Reduction Act of 1996 (EGRPRA), Wilkinson details how the Durbin amendment never fulfilled its promise of lowering costs to consumers at checkout, but has instead allowed retailers to pocket approximately an additional $36 billion in profit.

Citing a recent August 2015 Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond study, Wilkinson notes that few merchants are found to reduce prices or debit restrictions as debit costs decrease. In another survey 92% of the nearly 2000 consumers questioned reported that prices rose or stayed the same over the previous year.

“…[this] study confirms what common sense and economic theory tell us – that is, retailers never had any intention or economic incentive to pass their windfall on to consumers, Wilkinson writes. “None of this should be any surprise, and consumers should not hold their breath for retailers to pass their Durbin windfall onto consumers through lower prices.”

Further, Wilkinson’s letter explains how low income Americans have been disproportionately and adversely impacted as the Durbin Amendment has led to a transfer of $1 to $3 billion annually from low-income households to large merchants and their shareholders.

“Regulators and policy makers should consider the economic consequences for the most vulnerable when promulgating new regulations and recognize that the Durbin Amendment, rather than helping with this worthwhile goal, merely aided retailers to pocket $36 billion dollars to date”

Wilkinson’s full letter to Yellen can be found here.

Contact: Kasia Mulligan
Email: kmulligan@epc.rndr.tech
Phone: (202) 627-0544

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About the Electronic Payments Coalition

The Electronic Payments Coalition (EPC) is a coalition of payments industry stakeholders, such as credit unions, community banks, trade associations, payment card networks and banks that speaks on behalf of the payments industry to protect the value, innovation, convenience, security and competition that exists in the modern electronic payments system. The EPC educates policymakers, consumers and the media on the system’s role in economic growth and the importance of consumer choice, security, innovation and stability for the continued growth of global commerce.