As negotiations over the debit-interchange amendment in the financial-reform bill come to a head this week, the National Retail Federation is airing a 60-second radio commercial urging consumers to call their congressmen to “stop the bailout” of big banks and credit card companies.
The campaign, which launched June 18, will run throughout this week in the home markets of key members of the House-Senate conference committee negotiating the final version of the Restoring American Financial Stability Act, a federation spokesperson said. The federation’s membership is comprised of thousands of U.S. retailers of all sizes.
The radio spot takes direct aim at a movement among lawmakers who last week voiced opposition to the amendment. In a letter to conference members, 131 members of the House of Representatives outlined “grave concerns” about the amendment’s potentially harmful effects on consumers and the banking industry (
The retail federation’s radio spots feature a vignette of a husband and wife reading a newspaper, where the wife apparently learns the true costs of using payment cards. “Using a debit card costs 43 times more than using a check,” she says.
The campaign targets “both lawmakers and consumers” and is airing primarily on radio news and talk stations, the federation spokesperson said. He declined to list the total number of markets involved in the campaign.
Separately, the Merchants Payments Coalition within the past week created a 30-second video it is circulating in Washington and on its website, UnfairCreditCardFees.com. It also focuses on lawmakers participating in the financial-reform bill reconciliation process. The coalition represents the nation’s largest merchants and many retail trade organizations.
The coalition’s spot contends that “small business is getting ripped off” and urges viewers to “keep the Durbin swipe-fee fix and make it law.”
The debit-interchange amendment, introduced by Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., would require the Federal Reserve Board to set “reasonable and proportional” debit-interchange rates based on their actual cost to the largest banks. The amendment would also enable merchants to set minimum purchase amounts for credit cards and to offer consumers incentives for purchases that bypass cards.
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