CUNA issued an action alert Friday calling on the Senate Judiciary Committee to oppose any changes to the current interchange system ahead of a hearing entitled “Excessive Swipe Fees and Barriers to Competition in the Credit and Debit Card Systems” on Wednesday May 4.  

Credit union advocates can use this link to take action with the option to use pre-written responses or add accounts of how they rely on their credit and debit cards. 

In 2006, Congress began a process that ultimately passed the 2010 Durbin Amendment, named for Senator Richard Durbin, D-Ill. which set federal price caps on debit interchange fees. The CUNA action alert is to prevent this hearing, led by Senator Durbin, from beginning the same process for credit card interchange fees.  

The current system allows consumers to build credit and purchase necessary items while providing important fraud protection. Changes to the interchange system will make it harder for people to access credit, increase costs to small businesses, and pose security risks. In 2020, over 300 million individuals were affected by data breaches and fraud rates have doubled since 2011. 

Interchange keeps consumers, merchants, and financial institutions safe.