Representatives of retailers, including the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS), and small businesses across the United States on Tuesday urged the Obama administration to include meaningful credit-card interchange fee reform in the high-profile White House meeting with credit-card executives. They also requested time for a meeting of their own with White House officials to discuss the issue, the group said in a press statement.
Last year, the hidden credit-card fees known as "interchange" cost Americans $48 billion, more than credit card annual fees, cash advance fees, over-the-limit fees and late fees combined. According to recently released NACS State of the Industry data, convenience retailers paid a record $8.4 billion in credit-card fees in 2008, of which interchange was the largest component.
Unlike other credit card fees the Obama administration is expected to address, interchange fees are hidden from the consumer and set in secret by credit card companies and big banks.
"President Obama has consistently said Main Street businesses and middle-class families are the backbone of America's economy. These hidden credit card interchange fees hit those folks the hardest, and only for the sake of padding the big banks' bottom lines," said Lyle Beckwith, NACS senior vice president of government relations. "For too long, consumers and small businesses have paid the price, with no transparency, no competition, and no ability to negotiate. We are urging President Obama to understand that he can't fix the problems in the credit card industry without fixing the biggest problem of them all."
Credit-card interchange fees are threatening to squeeze thousands of Main Street businesses out of business and are costing hundreds of dollars per year for the average household. In the current economic crisis, these fees are a burden to millions of Americans struggling to make ends meet and a drain on our national recovery. And they have driven banks, intent on bringing in ever more in lucrative fees, to engage in the same kind of irresponsible, predatory lending practices that created the collapse of the subprime mortgage market and nearly brought down the American economy.
"Unless interchange fee reform is included in the White House effort to rein in credit-card companies, the 'biggest credit card fee you've never heard of' threatens to wipe out small businesses and cripple consumers at the very time we're counting on them to revive our economy," said Jennifer Hatcher, group vice president of government relations at the Food Marketing Institute (FMI), in an Merchant Payment Coalition (MPC) press release.
This week, the MPC submitted a letter to White House Economic Advisor Lawrence H. Summers, requesting its own meeting with White House officials to discuss the critical need for interchange reform. The coalition also has been urging Congress to take on interchange fee reform, most recently launching a media and grassroots campaign reaching out to members of the House Financial Services Committee.
"President Obama has consistently said Main Street businesses and middle-class families are the backbone of America's economy. These hidden credit card interchange fees hit those folks the hardest, and only for the sake of padding the big banks' bottom lines," said Lyle Beckwith, NACS senior vice president of government relations. "For too long, consumers and small businesses have paid the price, with no transparency, no competition, and no ability to negotiate. We are urging President Obama to understand that he can't fix the problems in the credit card industry without fixing the biggest problem of them all."
Credit-card interchange fees are threatening to squeeze thousands of Main Street businesses out of business and are costing hundreds of dollars per year for the average household. In the current economic crisis, these fees are a burden to millions of Americans struggling to make ends meet and a drain on our national recovery. And they have driven banks, intent on bringing in ever more in lucrative fees, to engage in the same kind of irresponsible, predatory lending practices that created the collapse of the subprime mortgage market and nearly brought down the American economy.
"Unless interchange fee reform is included in the White House effort to rein in credit-card companies, the 'biggest credit card fee you've never heard of' threatens to wipe out small businesses and cripple consumers at the very time we're counting on them to revive our economy," said Jennifer Hatcher, group vice president of government relations at the Food Marketing Institute (FMI), in an Merchant Payment Coalition (MPC) press release.
This week, the MPC submitted a letter to White House Economic Advisor Lawrence H. Summers, requesting its own meeting with White House officials to discuss the critical need for interchange reform. The coalition also has been urging Congress to take on interchange fee reform, most recently launching a media and grassroots campaign reaching out to members of the House Financial Services Committee.
"President Obama has consistently said Main Street businesses and middle-class families are the backbone of America's economy. These hidden credit card interchange fees hit those folks the hardest, and only for the sake of padding the big banks' bottom lines," said Lyle Beckwith, NACS senior vice president of government relations. "For too long, consumers and small businesses have paid the price, with no transparency, no competition, and no ability to negotiate. We are urging President Obama to understand that he can't fix the problems in the credit card industry without fixing the biggest problem of them all."
Credit-card interchange fees are threatening to squeeze thousands of Main Street businesses out of business and are costing hundreds of dollars per year for the average household. In the current economic crisis, these fees are a burden to millions of Americans struggling to make ends meet and a drain on our national recovery. And they have driven banks, intent on bringing in ever more in lucrative fees, to engage in the same kind of irresponsible, predatory lending practices that created the collapse of the subprime mortgage market and nearly brought down the American economy.
"Unless interchange fee reform is included in the White House effort to rein in credit-card companies, the 'biggest credit card fee you've never heard of' threatens to wipe out small businesses and cripple consumers at the very time we're counting on them to revive our economy," said Jennifer Hatcher, group vice president of government relations at the Food Marketing Institute (FMI), in an Merchant Payment Coalition (MPC) press release.
This week, the MPC submitted a letter to White House Economic Advisor Lawrence H. Summers, requesting its own meeting with White House officials to discuss the critical need for interchange reform. The coalition also has been urging Congress to take on interchange fee reform, most recently launching a media and grassroots campaign reaching out to members of the House Financial Services Committee.
"President Obama has consistently said Main Street businesses and middle-class families are the backbone of America's economy. These hidden credit card interchange fees hit those folks the hardest, and only for the sake of padding the big banks' bottom lines," said Lyle Beckwith, NACS senior vice president of government relations. "For too long, consumers and small businesses have paid the price, with no transparency, no competition, and no ability to negotiate. We are urging President Obama to understand that he can't fix the problems in the credit card industry without fixing the biggest problem of them all."
Credit-card interchange fees are threatening to squeeze thousands of Main Street businesses out of business and are costing hundreds of dollars per year for the average household. In the current economic crisis, these fees are a burden to millions of Americans struggling to make ends meet and a drain on our national recovery. And they have driven banks, intent on bringing in ever more in lucrative fees, to engage in the same kind of irresponsible, predatory lending practices that created the collapse of the subprime mortgage market and nearly brought down the American economy.
"Unless interchange fee reform is included in the White House effort to rein in credit-card companies, the 'biggest credit card fee you've never heard of' threatens to wipe out small businesses and cripple consumers at the very time we're counting on them to revive our economy," said Jennifer Hatcher, group vice president of government relations at the Food Marketing Institute (FMI), in an Merchant Payment Coalition (MPC) press release.
This week, the MPC submitted a letter to White House Economic Advisor Lawrence H. Summers, requesting its own meeting with White House officials to discuss the critical need for interchange reform. The coalition also has been urging Congress to take on interchange fee reform, most recently launching a media and grassroots campaign reaching out to members of the House Financial Services Committee.
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