NLBMDA Action Alert:

Marshall-Durbin Swipe Fee Amendment Filed in Senate, ACTION REQUIRED

Last night, Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Roger Marshall (R-KS) officially introduced the Credit Card Competition Act (CCCA) as an amendment to the GENIUS Act, a cryptocurrency regulation bill that would establish a regulatory framework for the digital currency. Earlier this week, the Senate advanced the GENIUS Act in a 66-32 vote opening the process for Senators to introduce amendments for the legislation.

ACTION NEEDED: NLBMDA members are highly encouraged to reach out to your Senate representatives to urge them to support the Marshall-Durbin (CCCA) amendment to reign in excessive swipe fees and support LBM retailers.

The GENIUS Act is the first banking bill to reach the Senate floor since the Credit Card Competition Act was originally introduced in the 117^th Congress. Sens. Durbin and Marshall have strategically chosen to use the GENIUS Act as the legislative vehicle to pass the Credit Card Competition Act rather than passing the bill as a stand-alone piece of legislation. Senator Durbin has a precedent for using larger pieces of legislation to pass pro-retailer banking reforms. As part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act passed by Congress in 2010, Senator Durbin successfully added the Durbin amendment, a provision that capped debit card swipe fees.

Earlier this year, NLBMDA members visited over one hundred offices on Capitol Hill to advocate for the passage of the legislation. Since our Legislative Conference in April, NLBMDA in partnership with our coalition partners, have been out on Capitol Hill in full force to build support for the legislation. Swipe fees soared to a record $187 billion in 2024, up from $172 billion in 2023 and $160 billion in 2022. For many NLBMDA members, swipe fees have become the second highest operating expense behind labor. With the Senate set to vote on the Marshall-Durbin amendment this week, it is critical that Senate offices hear from LBM dealers regarding the impact excessive swipe fees have had on your business.

To assist with your advocacy NLBMDA has included a prompt below that can be used when calling or emailing your Senators. 

Support the Marshall-Durbin Amendment:

As your constituent, I am reaching out to ask that you support the Marshall-Durbin Amendment (i.e. the Credit Card Competition Act). 

Credit card swipe fees are our industry’s second-highest operating cost after labor. These fees are up 70% since the pandemic. LBM retailers like mine are powerless to negotiate these fees and need Congress to act because Visa and Mastercard hold a duopoly over the marketplace. They centrally fix the swipe fees, and banks that issue their cards all agree to charge the same thing. The market is clearly broken.

The Marshall-Durbin Amendment would deliver much-needed relief to Main Street businesses and our customers. It injects needed competition by ensuring the megabanks that issue Visa or Mastercard credit cards will allow smaller card networks that handle our debit cards today like Star, NYCE, Pulse and others to compete with Visa and Mastercard. The amendment only applies to large financial institutions with more than $100 billion in assets, which is only about 29 banks and 1 credit union in the US. It exempts all community banks. It would also protect the American payments system by barring China UnionPay from U.S. credit cards. We have no legal protection against that happening today.



Please stand up for small businesses and for fair competition in the credit card marketplace by supporting the Marshall-Durbin Amendment. Thank you for your consideration.

To find your Senator's phone number, please see the Talking Points / Senate Office Phone Numbers document.

Additional Resources:

• NLBMDA Credit Card Competition Act One-Pager
• Consumers Saved with Debit Swipe Fee Reform Fact Sheet
• The Credit Card Industry Makes False Claims about Rewards Fact Sheet
• Consumer Credit Will Not Be Reduced and Consumer Fees Will Not Rise Under CCCA Fact Sheet

A vote on the Marshall-Durbin amendment is expected in the next few days. As you may know, Visa and MasterCard have engaged in an aggressive lobbying campaign against the bill. Due to this strong opposition, it is more important now than ever before to ensure you voice the perspectives of the LBM industry on this important issue. 

For questions, contact Matthew Delaney, NLBMDA’s Government Affairs Coordinator at mdelaney@dealer.org