Durbin Statement on the Final Federal Reserve Rules on Interchange Fees

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – Assistant Senate Majority Leader Dick Durbin (D-IL) released the following statement today on the Federal Reserve’s announcement of their final rules reforming the debit interchange system:

“The rules announced by the Federal Reserve today will finally make swipe fee reform a reality and help bring fairness, transparency and competition to a debit card system that for years has operated without them.

The rules, which will take effect on October 1^st, will give small businesses some relief from the unreasonably high fees that the Visa and MasterCard duopoly fix on behalf of the nation’s biggest banks, and consumers will finally begin to benefit from the increased competition, discounts, and lower prices that reform will bring. 

“I am disappointed, however, to see that the Federal Reserve has yielded to the big banks in certain parts of its final rulemaking.  The inflated cap and extended delay that the Fed announced today will unnecessarily take money out of the pockets of consumers and small businesses and give it to big banks that neither need nor deserve it.”

“The credit card companies, Wall Street banks and their allies will no doubt continue to try to fight reasonable swipe fee reforms, but I will do everything in my power to ensure that Main Street comes out ahead of Wall Street."