ABL Statement on Senate Swipe Fee Hearing

BETHESDA, MD – American Beverage Licensees (ABL) Executive Director John Bodnovich issued the following statement after today’s U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing entitled: Breaking the Visa-Mastercard Duopoly: Bringing Competition and Lower Fees to the Credit Card System:

“Today’s Senate hearing on credit card swipe fees brought to light what beer, wine and spirits retailers around the country already know: the credit card marketplace is broken.  Small businesses and consumers are being charged ‘rip off prices’, as one Senator put it, by credit card companies that acknowledged today their profit margins – made in part off the $172 billion in swipe fees everyday Americans and local Main Street businesses paid last year – are approximately 50 percent.

“The bipartisan skepticism of Visa and MasterCard’s claims about competition is further evidence that this is not a liberal or conservative issue.  Rather, it is a problem for American businesses and their customers who live with excessively high and ever-increasing swipe fees driven by the credit card duopoly.

“For nearly 20 years, ABL has fought for competition and fairness in the payment card market because for so many bars, taverns and package liquor stores, swipe fees are the second highest cost after labor and are non-negotiable.  By following the success achieved with debit card fee reform, which put savings back in consumers’ pockets, Congress should address runaway credit card swipe fees that fly in the face of competition.

“It is clear that the payment card marketplace ‘does not need to be this way’ and Congress should reject the anti-competitive behavior of the credit card industry by passing the Credit Card Competition Act to bring relief and competition that will ultimately benefit American consumers.”

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