Trump takes on Visa and Mastercard

President Donald Trump is doubling down on his threat to curb credit card costs. Following his Jan. 12 post to Truth Social that the annual percentage rates on credit cards should be capped at 10 percent, the president took to Truth Social again to voice support for the Credit Card Competition Act (CCCA).

The CCCA was introduced in the Senate by Senators Roger Marshall, R-Kan, and Richard Durbin, D-Ill., and in the House by Representatives Lance Gooden, R-Texas, and Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif.

The bill aims to reduce the cost of card acceptance by mandating that merchants be allowed to choose the network used to process their credit card transactions. Specifically, it would force the largest issuers of credit cards to program the cards they issue to support the ability of merchants to choose from at least two processing networks, only one of which could be owned by Visa or Mastercard.

The premise behind the bill is that alternatives to Visa and Mastercard (for example, Discover or an EFT/POS network) would create the kind of competition that would compel Visa and Mastercard to lower interchange (or “swipe fees” in merchant parlance).

CCCA has significant support

The legislation, which was originally introduced in Congress in 2022, reintroduced in 2023, and introduced again on Jan. 13, is backed by nearly 2,000 card-accepting businesses and a coalition of consumer, labor and merchant associations.

“Everyone should support great Republican Senator Roger Marshall’s Credit Card Competition Act in order to stop the out of control Swipe Fee ripoff,” the President posted on Truth Social. “Roger is a FANTASTIC Senator.” As of today (Jan. 14) the post had 25,000 likes and 5,700 reposts.

"The average American family is being ripped off by Big Banks who profit billions from swipe fees while hardworking Americans pay the price," Sen. Marshall said in a statement. "It is time to bring real competition to a credit card network market dominated by Visa and Mastercard – and drive down the cost of everyday goods."

"Americans are struggling with everyday purchases like groceries and gas, and credit card swipe fees inflate those already exorbitant prices," added Sen. Durbin. "By bringing real competition to the credit card networks, which is currently dominated by the Visa-Mastercard duopoly, we can reduce swipe fees and hold down costs for Main Street merchants and their customers."

The Merchant Payments Coalition issued a statement on Jan. 13 applauding reintroduction of the legislation. "The average family pays $1,200 more each year in higher prices because of the price-fixing of these fees," Doug Kantor, general counsel of the National Association of Convenience Stores, said in a statement.

Kantor, who is also a member of the MPC executive committee, added "It's time to pass the Credit Card Competition Act to bring fairness and competition to the broken credit card system."

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