Reps. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and Lance Gooden (R-Texas) today introduced a companion bill to the Credit Card Competition Act of 2022, an ABA-opposed bill that was introduced in the Senate by Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Roger Marshall (R-Kan.). The bill would create new credit card routing mandates that will affect banks that issue credit.
Specifically, it would require covered credit card issuers to add a second network to their customers’ cards, but banks would only be allowed to choose from certain options set by the Federal Reserve. In this regard, the bill goes further than the rules put in place for debit card transactions under the Dodd-Frank Act’s Durbin Amendment in 2010, where a bank could choose any two unaffiliated networks. The bill would also require that banks accept virtually any kind of transaction, regardless of the security or fraud recourse it carries, forcing banks to onboard potentially many more than two networks.
In a statement strongly opposing the bill, ABA President and CEO Rob Nichols urged lawmakers to oppose this “deeply flawed and harmful legislation,” and warned of significant consequences for consumers if enacted.
“Both Reps. Welch and Gooden chose big retailers over the strongly stated opposition of community financial institutions and their customers,” Nichols said. “Like the Durbin Amendment on debit cards, consumers will see higher costs, less access and less competition—all on behalf of publicly traded retailers with profit margins many times that of community banks. We urge every member of Congress to oppose this deeply flawed and harmful legislation.”
