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The Electronic Payments Coalition (EPC) promised to keep fighting for repeal of the Durbin amendment today and will continue to work with Congress to stop this failed policy.

“The House Financial Services Committee voted twice in back-to-back congresses to repeal the Durbin Amendment because members know this is a crony handout that has generated unearned billions for the Big Box retailers and heartburn for their customers,” said Molly Wilkinson, executive director of the EPC. “The Durbin price controls hurt consumers, community banks and credit unions and even small merchants. This is a bad policy, and we, the Electronic Payments Coalition, are committed to repealing it.”

Since the policy took effect in 2011, the special-interest Durbin amendment has allowed merchants to collect more than $42 billion they promised to pass along to their customers. In that time, merchants have raised prices while banks and credit unions have lost revenue used to serve their customers and members, respectively. The policy’s failures have been confirmed by multiple studies and consumer surveys over the past six years, underscoring the need to end the Durbin amendment.

Those failures are the reason two separate Congresses took action in the past year to repeal this policy, keeping the amendment in the spotlight and stressing its failures. In September 2016, the 114th Congress’s House Financial Services Committee (HFSC) passed the CHOICE Act of 2016, which included Durbin amendment repeal. In May, the HFSC of the 115th Congress voted once again to end the provision as part of CHOICE 2.0.

To learn more about the Durbin amendment, click here.

New Morning Consult survey data released today confirms the need to end the Durbin amendment, with seven in ten voters unaware of having received a discount at the register since the policy went into effect. Across party lines, voters agree that if merchants aren’t passing along savings from the law, it should be repealed. To date, big box stores have pocketed $42 billion at their customers’ expense. The new polling data found nearly 70 percent of voters say these big box retailers like Target and Walmart are looking out for their own bottom lines, not main street interests.

“Time and time again, evidence shows the Durbin amendment has been a complete failure and the latest Morning Consult polling is no exception,” said Molly Wilkinson, executive director of the Electronic Payments Coalition (EPC). “For six years, big box retailers have broken their promises to lower costs, and consumers, small businesses, community banks, and credit unions are paying the price. Voters recognize the Durbin amendment for what it is: a price control that serves only to pad retailers’ bottom lines. It is time for Congress to act now to end this special interest policy.”

Despite proponents of the Durbin amendment—including big box retailers and special interests groups—saying it would help consumers and small businesses, only the largest retailers have seen any benefits from the policy. These large merchants have pocketed approximately $6-8 billion a year and, as evidenced in the survey, have failed to lower prices. This is in line with a Richmond Federal Reserve study that found only one percent of retailers have lowered their prices as promised since the Durbin amendment’s price controls went into effect. Additionally, by a 4-1 margin, voters say RILA and the other associations pushing to keep this government price control don’t protect main street interests.

EPC urges the immediate repeal of the Durbin amendment and asks Congress to support Section 735 of the Financial CHOICE Act.

To view EPC’s infographic on the polling click here.

Morning Consult, on behalf of the Electronics Payment Coalition, conducted an online survey of 1,970 registered voters from May 16-18, 2017. Results from the full survey have a margin of error of +/- 2%.