Re: “Credit score-card swipe charges: Defend customers” [Jan. 14, Northwest Voices]:
The Credit score Card Competitors Act, imposing routing mandates on bank cards, would shift billions in shopper spending to much less safe processing companies that may weaken the nation’s fee system. It is going to possible result in much more non-public shopper data being made obtainable to overseas networks (e.g.; China and Russia).
In 2010, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (a sponsor of this invoice) added an modification to the Dodd-Frank Act that opened up debit playing cards to, theoretically, diminished transaction charges. Within the years following passage of Dodd-Frank, quite a few sources evaluated the impression of the Durbin Modification — and located that customers paid the worth:
• A 2015 financial survey from the Federal Reserve Financial institution of Richmond discovered that simply 1.2% of retailers lowered their costs because of the modification — whereas greater than 20% really raised them.
• An article from George Mason College estimated that the modification transfers “$1 billion to $3 billion yearly from low-income households to massive retailers and their shareholders.”
• A examine from the College of Pennsylvania famous that common month-to-month checking account charges elevated by over 70% because of the modification.
The unintended penalties of imposing comparable rules on bank cards might imply increased costs for us all.
Edgar Rochelson, Issaquah
