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Joining the sentiment expressed last week by MasterCard Worldwide (CardLine, 6/5), Visa Inc. in a statement to CardLine Friday lambasted the introduction of interchange legislation by U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich. The bill "will significantly and negatively impact consumers, especially those struggling in this time of economic uncertainty," the card brand says. "Conyers' legislation seeks to give retailers the ability to pass even more costs on to consumers by making the public pay for the retailers' cost of doing business." Visa notes that "today, retailers enjoy all the benefits of a fast and secure system that increases their profits by handling millions of credit and debit transactions every day and guarantees them payment, usually within 24 hours." Retailers supporting this legislation hope to gain more profit by not paying interchange and transferring that cost to consumers "under the guise of 'consumer protection,'" Visa says. Conyers' legislation gives retailers exemption from antitrust laws, allowing them to dictate the cost of accepting credit and debit cards, "all at the expense of consumers," Visa says. "Furthermore, the legislation directs the U.S. Department of Justice to oversee negotiations between retailers and card companies over the cost of accepting payments," Visa says. "This anti-consumer approach undermines decades of sound U.S. competition policy by trying to mandate what the U.S. government is generally not in the habit of doing–stepping in between business entities and picking favorites [and] creating a system that is inherently anti-consumer and pro-retailer."
