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Industry News
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Harkin, Snowe, Cardin Ask GAO to Investigate Interchange Fees |
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U.S. Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee Members Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine), and Benjamin L. Cardin (D-Maryland) today requested that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigate the structure of credit card interchange fees, which are used to reimburse credit card companies for processing transactions, according to a release from the committee.
The Senators said they asked GAO to take a balanced look at whether fees are properly disclosed, how the fees are set, and the level of competition in the marketplace.
“This multi-billion dollar fee is blamed for higher grocery prices and credited for subsidizing popular cash-back and rewards cards,” Senator Harkin said. “A GAO study will help us to gather unbiased information on these fees so that we can help the average consumers who are in the middle of this tug of war. I trust the GAO to honestly and comprehensively study this issue and advise us on a fair way forward.”
“While the credit card companies assert that they are helping consumers purchase goods and services, merchants, many of which are small businesses, say the interchange fees charged are too high, not set competitively, and eat into already slim profit margins,” said Senator Snowe, Ranking Member of the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee. “To get to the bottom of this dispute, we’re asking GAO to look at the facts and assess whether credit card interchange fees are set in a transparent manner in accordance with market principles. I look forward to reviewing GAO’s recommendations to determine whether legislation is necessary to address this issue.”
“Interchange fees constitute significant surcharges which are passed on to Maryland businesses and consumers,” said Senator Cardin. “We need a balanced review to determine if merchants have appropriate bargaining power to negotiate fair and reasonable rates with companies like Visa and MasterCard, who control the majority of the market. Greater transparency, negotiation, and competition can only be of help to the credit and debit payment system.”
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Merchant Card Information Reporting Will Become Law |
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The merchant card information reporting legislation that ETA has long opposed is about to become law as part of the American Housing Rescue and Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008 (H.R.3221). The reporting requirement was included as a revenue offset in this high-profile legislation which includes assistance for financially-strapped homeowners and a potential bail-out for mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It was considered a must-pass bill by lawmakers from both political parties.
The bill cleared the U.S. House last week and the Senate passed it over the weekend. It is likely to be signed by the president very quickly and could become law as soon as August 1. The merchant reporting requirement takes effect December 31, 2010.
The major outlines of the requirement are clear: Acquirers must report to the IRS the aggregate dollar amounts of credit and debit card transactions for each merchant that has more than $20,000 in transactions and more than 200 transactions per year. Reporting will have to be done by taxpayer identification number (TIN). In certain cases, acquirers may also have to subject merchants to backup withholding. You can read a summary of the final legislation here.
[Update: President Bush signed the American Housing Rescue and Foreclosure Prevention Act late Tuesday afternoon, without a formal ceremony.]
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Check Volume Continues to Fall |
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Check volume continues to fall, but checks aren't going away any time soon, thanks to the continued challenges in making and receiving electronic business-to-business (B2B) payments.
New research from TowerGroup finds that B2B payments remain the last bastion of checks - making up nearly 60 percent of US check dollar value. These persistent challenges in making and receiving B2B electronic payments are a main reason why average US check values are increasing faster than any other payment type, even as the numbers of checks themselves decline.
TowerGroup expects check volumes to decline to 17.9 billion transactions by the end of 2009 as consumers, businesses, and government entities increasingly make and accept electronic payments. However, TowerGroup believes that checks will remain an important and increasingly high-value part of the US payments landscape until all potential payees are willing and able to receive electronic payments - and until checks become too expensive for banks to process on a regular basis, as shrinking volumes drive up per-unit processing costs. TowerGroup's new research is based on its own the findings as well as those from the 2007 Federal Reserve Payments Study.
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House Passes Merchant Reporting; Senate Likely to Follow |
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The American Housing Rescue and Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008 (H.R.3221), containing merchant card information reporting requirements opposed by ETA and other payment organizations, passed the U.S. House by a vote of 272-152 yesterday.
The bill will require merchant acquiring entities and third party settlement organizations to report the name, address, TIN, and gross amount of reportable payment transactions of each payee once a year. Third party settlement organizations are required to report only if the value of transactions exceeds $20,000 and the total number of transactions is more than 200 per year.
If, as expected, the bill clears the Senate and is signed by President Bush, it will take effect December 31, 2010. The Secretary of the Treasury will develop regulations to implement this provision.
Senate passage could come as early as today, and despite previous veto threats, President Bush indicated yesterday that he will sign the bill into law.
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Merchants Like Banks But Want Funding Backup |
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The results of a recent survey of small business owners reveals a desire for banks to offer other options when a loan application is denied. The Spring/Summer 2008 edition of the Capital Access Network (CAN) Small Business Barometer uncovered that 87 percent of rejected small business loan applicants were not offered any alternative by their bank after they were denied a traditional lending product. However, 69 percent said they would consider an alternative offered by their bank, highlighting an opportunity for banks to satisfy customer need by providing other funding options and ideas.
An overwhelming 87 percent of small businesses surveyed indicated that it is important to have access to a readily available and predictable source of capital, a reflection of today’s credit conditions. These results indicate that banks may have a compelling marketing opportunity to provide additional value, secure customer loyalty and responsibly meet demands for working capital even as credit conditions tighten. The survey was conducted online; respondents consisted of 276 small business operators who accept credit cards as a form of payment in their business.
Read the full survey here.
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