CUNA Chief Political Officer Richard Gose appeared on CUBroadcast this week to provide an update on CUNA, League, and credit union opposition to House and Senate interchange bills. The Credit Card Competition Act would allow merchants to route payments through an unaffiliated network.

“The proponents will tell you it will give merchants more leverage to negotiate to get a less expensive interchange options. That’s what they say,” Gose said. “But if you look at the proof, it’s not really there. It’s going to benefit your big box retailers, those who have traditionally had the power to negotiate rates because of the volume. The ones who are going to suffer are small financial institutions—credit unions and community banks—so it’s not actually going to accomplish what the sponsors say they want.”

“Our goal is to make sure lawmakers know the effect that these kind fo changes to our interchange system could mean for credit unions and their members,” he added.

CUNA and Leagues issued an action alert, and CUNA launched a Member Activation Program (MAP) “Protect My Card” campaign. More than 30,000 messages of opposition have been sent to Capitol Hill as of this week.