This Week In Credit Card News: More Merchants Add Credit Card Surcharges; Are Lower Debit Swipe Fees Coming?

Fed to Propose Lowering Debit Card Swipe Fees

The Federal Reserve is preparing a proposal that would lower the fees merchants pay to many banks when consumers shop with debit cards. Today, merchants pay large card issuers 21 cents plus 0.05% of the transaction amount, the level set by the Fed in 2011. The Fed can lower the cap if it determines the costs for processing debit-card payments are declining, but it has never done so. The Fed said it would hold a meeting next week to vote on a proposal about revising the fee cap, without being more specific. The proposal would lower the cap, according to people familiar with the matter. The Fed would then start a public-comment period that would likely include heavy lobbying from card issuers and merchants and congressional discussion. It would require a final vote by the central bank’s governors to be implemented. [The Wall Street Journal]