By a 54-45 vote the Senate today voted to uphold the Fed's new rule of limiting debit card fees to .12c per transaction. This will endanger some $16 billion in swipe fees the banks collect from consumers and merchants.
WASHINGTON -- The Senate has voted to let the Federal Reserve limit the fees that stores pay banks each time a shopper swipes a debit card.
It's a victory for merchants in a long-running lobbying fight with banks.
(All quotes from Forbes)
I doubt this will get FP coverage - so here it is.
Financial institutions and their supporters on Capitol Hill have been fighting a Fed proposal to cap, at 12 cents, the fee stores must pay the banks each of the 38 billion times that shoppers use debit cards every year.
Those fees currently average about 44 cents per swipe, transactions that earn banks and credit card companies $16 billion a year, the Fed says.
The battle has pitted banks against merchants, two industries that lawmakers hate to cross because of their influence back home and their campaign contributions.
http://www.forbes.com/...
Good deal. Win for merchants and consumers - and as we move to a cashless society VERY IMPORTANT.
Celebrate a victory against fee scavenging banks and Visa/Mastercard!