Swipe fees will not be limited? Credit card companies insist on delay

Lobbyists for big banks and credit card companies started lobbying the Congress to postpone implementation of the regulation limiting credit card fees charged for transactions.

However according to Mallory Duncan, senior vice president and general counsel of the Washington-based National Retail Federation (NRF), this delay is not good for the customers. According to his statement 1 month delay will cost cardholders more than $1 billion and almost $30 billion over two years.  

"Congress recognized last year that the credit card companies and big banks have been extracting monopoly-like fees from merchants and their customers for far too long," said Mallory Duncan, NRF senior vice president and general counsel, in a statement. "Now that reform is about to go into effect, the card industry is asking for a do-over they don't deserve." 

According to the regulation, approved last year the processing companies like Visa, MasterCard and American Express will limit their "swipe fees" to 12 cents per transaction, that is 70% less than now.