Hey, Some Good News
by digby
In the continuing saga of the Fin-Reg conference negotiations, they managed to get a pretty good deal on the credit card swipe fees. Lord knows what the banks got in return, but this is good news for small businesses:
Wall Street reform negotiators struck a deal Monday to regulate the swipe fees that major banks and credit card companies can charge to merchants — costs that are passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices. The cost to merchants of using credit cards has more than doubled since 2003 even as merchants’ profits have declined, a contradiction only explained by the monopolistic system that lets banks continuously raise swipe fees. The deal, struck between Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and key House negotiators, leaves out some elements that consumer advocates had been fighting for. It allows fees charged to reloadable, prepaid debit cards — generally used by the poor — to remain unregulated. And it allows an exemption for states that use debit cards to dole out benefits. But, for the first time, banks and credit card companies will face restrictions on the fees they can charge merchants for the privilege of accepting credit and debit cards. (Read a summary of the deal here.)
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