A quest for actionWill the The Green Sheet be addressing articles like "Hidden credit card fees are costing you: New legislation may mean an end to interchange fees, which cost the average family more than $400 a year," posted July 31, 2008, on CNNMoney.com? And will The Green Sheet address what the National Retail Federation is successfully accomplishing in terms of government involvement for lower interchange? Just curious to see what you think about the issue and how it will affect ISOs and merchant level salespeople (MLSs).
Isaac Lay
Cyndigo
Isaac,
Thank you for your most timely question. As an educational and motivational resource for the payments industry, The Green Sheet helps ISOs and MLSs to be informed about the industry's structure and operations, new developments in technology and best business practices, and emerging issues of concern, including legislation that could adversely affect the feet on the street.
To that end, we have published a number of breaking news stories and educational articles devoted to these matters. In this issue alone, we are publishing two news stories addressing legislative issues, "HR 5546, the downside" and "Uncle Sam to get slice of payments pie." The first pertains to interchange and discusses the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee's recent passage of HR 5546, the Credit Card Fair Fee Act. The second discusses the payments data reporting provision attached to the American Housing Rescue and Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008, which was signed into law July 29. Also in this issue, Street SmartsSM author, Jason Felts, has devoted his entire column to these two pieces of legislation and included perspectives provided by members of GS Online's MLS Forum.
It would probably take an entire issue of The Green Sheet to publish all of the Forum members' views, which is not feasible. However, to get a sense of your peers' approaches to the issues at hand, click on the Forums link from our home page, and jump into the discussion. Some of the articles we've published earlier in 2008 include:
In addition, we devoted an entire in-depth, quarterly to legislative issues: "2008 legislation update: What side of the law are you on?" GSQ, April 2008, a supplement to The Green Sheet issue 08:04:02. Drawing on primary research and the analyses of industry experts, the issue lists recently enacted and pending state and federal initiatives, with contact information for the legislative bodies concerned.
It also provides informed perspectives about what this slew of legislation means for acquiring businesses and their clients. This should give you a good idea of what we are doing in terms of helping to keep the payments sphere informed and engaged when it comes to matters that affect us all.
Our work complements the efforts of industry organizations, such as the Electronic Transactions Association, other trade groups and regional associations. We encourage you to get involved in such groups, so that you can help determine the substance and nature of any bills affecting the payments sphere.
Editor
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