TAKE ACTION: SWIPE FEES HURT AMERICAN CONSUMERS & SMALL BUSINESSES 

Every time you buy something with a credit card in stores or online, the merchant must pay a hidden “swipe fee” to Visa or Mastercard – and those big credit card companies dictate the fees merchants pay. This fee raises prices for consumers and crushes the bottom line for small business owners. 

Congress needs to fix this broken system and provide much-needed relief to consumers and merchants, especially during a time of high inflation. 

Big banks are spreading misleading information and illogical arguments about swipe fees. Here are some facts that show how much swipe fees are hurting small businesses and American consumers: 

  • Over the last decade, U.S. merchants have seen their payment processing costs grow up to three times faster than their overall revenue growth, hitting a record $198 billion last year. This costs the average family over $1,200 a year.

  • Visa and Mastercard control over 80% of the credit card market and refuse to negotiate these fees with Main Street merchants. The rates charged to U.S. merchants are among the highest in the world; in fact, they are seven times the maximum allowed in Europe.

  • High swipe fees contribute to huge profits for the credit card industry. Visa reported net profit margins of 54 percent in the first quarter of 2026 while Mastercard reported net margins rose to 46 percent over the same period.

  • Visa & Mastercard's market dominance allows them to increase fees despite U.S. consumers facing unprecedented debt. A report from the  Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) found that in 2025 credit card companies charged consumers more than $253 billion in interest and fees, while the annual average over the past decade has been $162.08 billion.

  • Visa & Mastercard say they use these hidden swipe fees to fund data security, but their actions reveal they actually welcome, engage in, and profit off of fraud. An investigation by BuzzFeed News shows they profit from facilitating fraud for businesses with a history of fraudulent activities.  

This is a broken system that only Congress can fix. The good news is, the Credit Card Competition Act (CCCA) is pro-consumer, bipartisan legislation that is quickly gaining support in Congress. The CCCA would lower fees by introducing competition into the credit card market, lowering costs for consumers and small businesses across the country.