Viewing results for:
EPC Calls for Durbin Amendment Repeal and Better Security Standards: Support H.R. 5465, H.R. 5983 and H.R. 2205 to Protect Consumers
WASHINGTON (September 30, 2016) – Five years since the implementation of the ill-conceived Durbin Amendment, customers are still not seeing savings at the register and small businesses continue to feel the impacts of this legislation. Ahead of the October 1st anniversary of Durbin Amendment implementation, the Electronic Payments Coalition calls on legislators to continue their support of repeal by backing H.R. 5465 and section 335 of H.R. 5983. The Durbin Amendment continues to be nothing more than a merchant markup allowing big box retailers to pocket more than $36 billion to date—impairing small mom and pop stores and hurting customers in the process. “The numbers don’t lie: the Durbin Amendment has been a complete failure for everyone except the big-box stores, who have padded their bottom lines to the tune of six to eight billion dollars each year,” said Molly Wilkinson, executive director of the Electronic Payments Coalition. “Once consumers … Continue reading
Retailers have jumped the shark
How long does it take to admit something isn’t working? One year? Four? Longer? Sixty-five percent of all new television series are cancelled after their first season. The average tenure for a head coach of an SEC football team is just over four years. New Coke lasted seven years—but having suffered through that era, I can say that was probably too long. (The late Peter Jennings thought so. He heralded the return of classic Coke by breaking into daytime TV.) This week marks the five-year anniversary of implementation of the Durbin Amendment, a provision in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform bill that set price controls on interchange fees for some debit cards. Like New Coke and Fonzie’s infamous shark jumping stint in the fifth season of “Happy Days,” this idea was a bad one. Continue Reading
POLITICO Morning Money: House Panel Advances Dodd-Frank Alternative
BANKS CLAIM WIN ON DURBIN — From a financial services lobbyist: “The debit-card networks and issuing banks scored an under-the-radar win Tuesday when the House Financial Services Committee passed a Dodd-Frank replacement that included a repeal of Durbin. The anti-Durbin crowd, led by the Electronic Payments Coalition, worked hard for months to make sure Durbin was included in the bill — and stayed there, despite pressure from the retailers to strip it. “That included member meetings, calls in the district, newspaper and online ads, etc. The merchants applied similar (perhaps greater … ) pressure on members to offer an amendment to remove the Durbin repeal.” Continue Reading
Financial CHOICE Act, Replacement for Dodd-Frank, Passes Out of Committee
The Dodd-Frank Act of 2010 was meant to help solve the financial crisis, but in fact it did nothing to change the situation and made the problem worse. Instead, it doubled down on the bank regulatory regime that failed to prevent the financial crisis. In fact, Dodd-Frank regulates extraneous issues such as debit card interchange fees and accounting for conflict minerals that had nothing to do with the crisis. Continue Reading
EPC Thanks Chairman Hensarling for Leadership to Repeal Durbin Amendment
Statement from Molly Wilkinson, executive director of the Electronic Payments Coalition (EPC) on the markup of Chairman Jeb Hensarling’s (R-TX) Financial CHOICE Act: WASHINGTON, D.C. (September 13, 2016) – The Electronic Payments Coalition thanks Chairman Hensarling for leading efforts to repeal the Durbin Amendment as part of the Financial CHOICE Act. We applaud members of the House Financial Services Committee for acknowledging that the Durbin Amendment required repeal. The last six years confirm dire warnings from Democrats and Republicans alike that the Durbin Amendment hurts many of the same consumers the law was intended to help. Studies from Federal Reserve Banks in Boston and Richmond, as well as research by George Mason University Professor Todd Zywicki and Phoenix Marketing International, prove that Merchants failed to pass the savings from reduced interchange fees along to their customers and instead pocketed an additional $6 to $8 billion a year on the backs … Continue reading
CBA: It is time to abolish the Durbin Amendment
Government intervention in the markets while well-meaning often leads to unintended consequences. Flawed policy like the price controls on debit card interchange fees included in the Durbin Amendment to the Dodd-Frank Act was full of promise by merchants to reduce costs for consumers but instead has left them holding the bag at the checkout. Thankfully, the House Financial Services Committee soon has an opportunity to rectify this harmful policy. As the industry’s leading voice representing the retail banking industry, the Consumer Bankers Association (CBA) is dedicated to ensuring that our members, from the largest financial institutions to many regional and mid-size banks, have the opportunity to provide small businesses and consumers with access to important financial services. The Durbin Amendment was written without consideration of the negative impact it would have on these financial services and how it would ultimately harm our customers. Continue Reading
NAFCU: House Financial Services Committee Must Endorse Durbin Amendment Repeal
The House Financial Services Committee will mark up Chairman Jeb Hensarling’s (R-Texas) Financial CHOICE Act on Tuesday. One provision of the legislation that we strongly support is repeal of the Durbin Amendment. This amendment, which set price controls on debit interchange fees for some financial institutions, was added to the Dodd Frank Act during conference committee at the behest of big-box retailers. These interests pledged the provision wouldn’t affect “exempt” entities — under the Act, those with holdings less than $10 billion. Continue Reading
Rep. Neugebauer: Durbin Amendment Helps Retailers, Not Consumers
“Rent-seeking” is a widely recognized economics term that refers to when people or groups try to obtain economic benefits for themselves through a subsidy in the political arena. In Washington, the term has special significance. Special-interest groups regularly try to gain subsidies by securing a special regulation that disadvantages competitors. In 2010, the powerful retail lobby went “rent-seeking” and found its champion in Sen. Dick Durbin, D. Ill. His debit interchange fee provision inserted in the Dodd-Frank Act has resulted in the successful transfer of more than $35 billion from one sector of the economy to another. The Durbin amendment, as it has come to be called, mandated that the Federal Reserve cap the “swipe fees” that banks charge retailers for the service of processing electronic payments. Continue Reading
Industry Groups Praise Hensarling’s Dodd-Frank Replacement Plan Ahead of Markup
The Electronic Payments Coalition also showered praise on Hensarling’s bill. Both ABA and the Electronic Payments Coalition have advocated for eliminating Dodd-Frank’s limitations on credit card swipe fees, a provision commonly referred to as the “Durbin Amendment” after its lead advocate, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.). The Financial CHOICE Act would repeal the Durbin Amendment, which led EPC Executive Director Molly Wilkinson to call the legislation “the right thing to do for consumers and small community banks and credit unions.” She made the remarks Monday in a letter to Hensarling. Continue Reading
EPC Supports the Financial CHOICE Act and Repeal of the Durbin Amendment
WASHINGTON, D.C. (September 12, 2016) – Today, the Electronic Payments Coalition (EPC) sent a letter in support of the Financial CHOICE Act’s repeal of the Durbin Amendment to Chairman Jeb Hensarling, in advance of the House Financial Services Committee meeting to debate H.R. 5983–the Financial CHOICE Act. EPC salutes Chairman Hensarling’s forward-thinking leadership to repeal the failed Durbin Amendment as part of a reform package that aims to, in the words of Chairman Hensarling, “help grow the economy for all Americans, not just those at the top.” “Over the last six years, the Durbin Amendment has severely impacted customers, especially lower income and younger consumers by hitting them twice—first, at the cash register by not getting promised discounts, and then by reducing their access to financial services. The amendment’s artificial price controls led to a $36 billion handout for large retailers, which they have used to pad their bottom lines … Continue reading