ATR Organizes Coalition Letter in Opposition to Credit Card Competition Act of 2022

Today, Americans for Tax Reform led a coalition letter along with 28 free-market organizations united in opposition to the inaccurately named Credit Card Competition Act of 2022 (S. 4674). The bill is sponsored by Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Roger Marshall (R-Kan.).

You can read the text of the letter here or below:

August 19, 2022

Dear Member of Congress:

We, the undersigned organizations, oppose the inaccurately named Credit Card Competition Act of 2022 (S. 4674). The bill is a backdoor price control, and extension and expansion of the Durbin amendment as enacted in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (P.L. 111-203).

As written, the bill directs the Federal Reserve to draft rules requiring credit cards issued in the United States to offer at least two unaffiliated payment network options for point-of-sale and online transactions.  

According to the bill, the two networks may not both be Visa and Mastercard, because they “hold the 2 largest market shares with respect to the number of credit cards issued in the United States.” However, should market share switch hands to new firms, the routing mandates will no longer apply. The bill also mandates that the proprietary security of the credit cards function so that all networks are available for retailers to pick and choose—consumers get no say whatsoever. In fact, the bill never mentions consumers, nor how they will benefit.

It is abundantly clear that special interest groups are using the federal government to alter the credit card market to benefit themselves and not consumers. This is textbook rent seeking behavior, anathema to free market principles, and should be staunchly opposed by Republican lawmakers.

Furthermore, we oppose S. 4674 for the following reasons:

• The bill does not promote competition, instead it dramatically expands the role of the federal government to overregulate the market for credit cards. Today, requiring multiple dual-message networks to function over one card is technologically infeasible. The cost of overhauling our current credit system to comply with the mandates in the bill could cost up to $5 billion.

• The mandates in the bill are so costly that more than $60 billion in rewards that consumers receive every year would largely disappear. According to the International Center for Law & Economics, “86% of credit cardholders have active rewards cards, including 77% of cardholders with a household income of less than $50,000.”

• The bill authorizes the federal government to intervene in contracts between private parties. The federal government should not be interfering in private contractual agreements. This encroachment will force small banks and credit unions to severely limit or cease providing co-branded cards that millions of consumers use every day. This is similar to how Biden’s Securities and Exchange Commission is attempting to dictate provisions of contracts between private fund advisers and investors.

• There is no evidence that this bill will pass savings down to consumers. A report from the Government Accountability Office stated that if the regulations in the Durbin amendment “had not been implemented, 65 percent of noninterest checking accounts offered by covered banks would have been free.” Since the enactment of the Durbin amendment, about 22% of retailers have raised prices on consumers while only 1% lowered prices. Additional regulation on credit interchange will affect fees and interest in the credit market, thus increasing costs for consumers.

• Because the bill forces credit cards to allow access to all networks, proprietary technology will be exposed to competing networks, destroying incentives to create new and innovative fraud protection and cybersecurity. As one paper points out, the routing mandates “largely undermine the economics of networks and issuers.”

• The bill is a perfect example of Congress ceding its Article I authority to the Federal Reserve. All the provisions of this bill require the Federal Reserve to draft rules to carry out its mandates.

Based on the points made above, we believe this bill is diametrically opposed to free market principles. We encourage all lawmakers to oppose this bill.

Sincerely,

Grover Norquist, President, Americans for Tax Reform 

Adam Brandon, President, FreedomWorks

Karen Kerrigan, President & CEO, Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council

Eli Lehrer, President, R Street Institute 

Steve Pociask, President / CEO, American Consumer Institute

Heather R. Higgins, CEO, Independent Women’s Voice

Tom Schatz, President, Council for Citizens Against Government Waste

Pete Sepp, President, National Taxpayers Union

Andrew F. Quinlan, President, Center for Freedom and Prosperity

David Williams, President, Taxpayers Protection Alliance

Phil Kerpen, President, American Commitment 

Jeffrey Mazzella, President, Center for Individual Freedom

James Taylor, President, The Heartland Institute 

Jessica Anderson, Executive Director, Heritage Action for America

Brent Wm. Gardner, Chief Government Affairs Officer, Americans for Prosperity

John Berlau, Director of Finance Policy, Competitive Enterprise Institute

Seton Motley, President, Less Government 

Ryan Ellis, President, Center for a Free Economy 

Ashley Baker, Director of Public Policy, The Committee for Justice

Christopher Butler, Interim Director, Digital Liberty

Paul Gessing, President, Rio Grande Foundation

Dominic M. Calabro, President & CEO, Florida TaxWatch

Gregg Keller, President , Missouri Century Foundation

Yaël Ossowski, Deputy Director, Consumer Choice Center

Bryan Bashur, Executive Director, Shareholder Advocacy Forum

Gerard Scimeca, Chairman, Consumer Action for a Strong Economy

Matthew Gagnon, Chief Executive Officer, Maine Policy Institute

Andrew Langer, President, Institute for Liberty

Annette Thompson Meeks, CEO, Freedom Foundation of Minnesota