WASHINGTON – The House Judiciary Committee is expected to vote a bill that would allow merchants to collectively negotiate lower interchange rates with card issuers as early as Wednesday.
The credit union lobby is partnering with the bankers to defeat the bill, which they say would lead to lower interchange fee revenues for them.
Prospects for the bill, similar to one introduced in the Senate, are slim for this year, even if the Judiciary does endorse it. But advocates are expected to introduce it again in the next Congress when they hope to have broader support. Supporters say fees are set unilaterally by MasterCard and Visa, with no input from merchants.
MasterCard and Visa are working with credit unions and banks to defeat the measure.
Meantime, a Senate appropriations bill would require federal regulators to conduct a study on how interchange rates are set at federally regulated institutions.
