Interchange fees

Visa is delaying previously announced interchange and fee changes until April 2021, except for changes in the supermarket category, which will remain on the same schedule.

Stay-at-home orders and business shutdowns have led to a sharp decline in consumer use of credit and debit cards.

Interchange fees are a major part of the costs merchants pay to accept payment cards. While merchants seek relief from fees during a time in which their businesses face serious damage from stay-at-home edicts because of coronavirus, the credit card companies and banks quickly began to dig in their heels.

With coronavirus presenting significant challenges for retailers and the technical challenges of imposing interchange fee changes in the networks, Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover are holding off on the updates.

It's still unclear how the coronavirus pandemic will alter payment habits over time — will consumers avoid cash out of fear of germs, or will they favor it as the one payment option that nearly all merchants accept? An impending change in interchange rates may tip the scales in cash's favor.

The coronavirus stimulus package has resurrected calls for the U.S. government to offer a central bank digital currency, public mobile wallets and postal banking—controversial ideas that are hard to pull off, but exist outside the U.S. and could dent interchange fees and private stablecoin projects like Facebook’s Libra.

Visa Inc., Mastercard Inc. and banks that issue credit cards went on high alert Wednesday when the National Restaurant Association asked President Donald Trump and congressional leaders to cut the so-called swipe fees incurred every time a customer pays with plastic.

Advance wage access company Branch has partnered with Cardtronics’ Allpoint ATM network to provide surcharge-free cash access at all Allpoint ATMs across the U.S. to its customers.

With Visa’s sweeping change continuing to raise fees for credit card transactions, it is no surprise that many businesses, especially in the retail industry, are unhappy, says Fattmerchant CEO Suneera Madhani.

It is long past time for the Federal Reserve to use its authority to bring transparency and competition to the debit market, says the Retail Industry Leaders Association's Austen Jensen.