PROMOTING AND PROTECTING CONSUMER CHOICE AND COMPETITION IN ELECTRONIC PAYMENTS SYSTEMS

Everyone Benefits from Electronic Payments Systems

• Retailers and consumers benefit from the convenience, security, and reliability offered by electronic payments. But there is a cost to receiving these benefits.
  
  
• Retailers choose to accept electronic payments, consumers choose to use electronic payments, and everyone benefits.

A Competitive System that Provides Convenience, Security, and Reliability

• For years, competition has rewarded consumers with greater access and more choices while expanding business opportunities for retailers.
  
  
• What began 50 years ago as a service for select customers is now an indispensable tool for both consumers and business, with nearly two-thirds of American families using payment cards routinely.
  
  
• Today, there are more than 14,000 U.S. payment card issuers offering cards on the American Express, MasterCard, Visa, and other networks. These cards are accepted at more than 24 million locations in more than 150 countries.
  
  
• With a swipe of the card or a click of the mouse, electronic payments systems process funds, help protect against fraud, and finalize purchases.
  
  
• Retailers see more sales, greater fraud protections, and faster payment when customers use electronic payment cards.

Retailers Are Asking for Price Controls in Order to Shift Costs

• Some retailers would lead you to believe that they should not have to pay for the benefits of offering electronic payments. They don’t want you to know that these fees are part of the cost of doing business, like rent and salaries.
  
  
• These retailers want price controls. Where price controls have been imposed the results have been clear: higher consumer costs and fewer choices for cardholders.
  
  
• Maintaining, operating, and expanding global electronic payments systems is complex and costly. Retailers welcome the opportunity to offer consumers the convenience of electronic payments, but now they want to shift their business costs to bolster their profits.
  
  
• These select retailers are trying to use the government to shift costs from one industry to another, and in the end the consumer will lose.