Presidential candidate and Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn, recently addressed interchange fees during a Senate hearing. Click here for complete transcript.
"And lastly, I would be remiss if I did not mention one issue likely not to be explored today-- credit card interchange fees. These fees are imposed on merchants and consumers by banks and card associations when a credit or debit card is used to pay for a purchase. Interchange fees are growing exponentially– and the costs associated with these fees are expected to be between $30 and $40 billion this year alone. These opaque fees, assessed on merchants, are passed on, in part or whole, to consumers who have no knowledge or understanding that a fee is even a part of the cost of bread or milk, or any other consumer product. I believe that this is another area that this Committee should examine as part of the series of hearings on credit cards. With that, I would like to introduce the witnesses before the Committee."
[Source: UnfairCreditCardFees.com link]
