Newsroom

January 31, 2017

EPC, NAFCU continue push for Durbin repeal

The Electronic Payments Coalition, of which NAFCU is a member, sent a video to all House and Senate offices Tuesday that urges repeal of the Durbin amendment, noting consumers have yet to see promised savings as retailers have pocketed $42 billion since its passage.

The Durbin amendment, passed as part of the Dodd-Frank Act, required the Federal Reserve to cap debit interchange fees charged by financial institutions with $10 billion or more in assets. The real effect has been to reduce interchange fees across the board, but the price caps, which reduced costs for retailers, have not resulted in the promised savings for consumers at the check-out line.

The EPC's data note that 77 percent of merchants did not change their prices since implementation of the Durbin amendment and that 22 percent of merchants actually increased their prices.

NAFCU has repeatedly called for the repeal of the Durbin amendment; a provision for repeal was included as part of last year's "Financial CHOICE Act" authored by House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas. A new version is expected to be rolled out soon by Hensarling.

NAFCU encourages credit unions, through its Grassroots Action Center, to contact their members of Congress and urge them to support the repeal of the Durbin amendment.