Target: Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of U.S. House of Representatives
Goal: Ease credit card fees that ultimately cost consumers valuable money.
Credit cards are a popular payment method, but they often lead to burdensome debt. The potential pitfalls of these cards are compounded by hidden costs, such as the merchant fees that a business must pay every time they process a credit transaction. Increasingly, businesses are passing these costs onto consumers either through surcharges or price hikes on goods and services. These fees are estimated to cost the average consumer nearly 1,000 dollars per year. Meanwhile, the credit card industry, dominated by two entities, is taking advantage of both businesses and consumers by continually increasing merchant fees. In one year alone, Visa and MasterCard raked in over 70 billion dollars in merchant fees.
A proposed new law could help balance the scales. The Credit Card Competition Act would open up transaction routing to a larger set of networks. The increased competition would help ease the control and the influence of these two major players and thereby lower merchant fees. Consumers would also likely feel a financial easing as swipe costs are reduced.
Sign the petition below to urge final passage of a bill long in the making.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear Speaker Pelosi,
In a time when inflation worries are high, every dollar saved helps. The American consumer is increasingly reliant on credit cards, but the companies that essentially hold a monopoly over this industry are taking advantage of both businesses and consumers to the tune of tens of billions of dollars. The Credit Card Competition Act could provide important reform to the merchant fee process.
Critics claim that this legislation would somehow lessen consumer security, but the proposal has network safety requirements and protection from foreign outsourcing baked into it. Security will actually likely improve. The loudest complaints seem to be predictably coming from the entities that stand to lose the most power, but isn’t capitalism supposed to be all about healthy competition and free enterprise?
Please support this initiative and bring it to a vote when the time comes. Consumers and entrepreneurs alike could use a win.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo Credit: Pixabay
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