When you use a debit card to shop, should you pay the debit card fees or should it be left to the merchant? There is a provision in a Senate financial regulatory reform bill which would put limitations on the amount of debit card fees that merchants are required to pay. Lobbyists are defending the current system, and the average consumer doesn’t have a clue which team to root for.
Retailers asked for an amendment of interchange fee regulation. They said the increasing costs of fees associated with customer debit-card use makes it necessary. A supermarket trade group claims Visa’s debit card transaction fees for debit card use in grocery stores increased 30% in April.
Illinois Senator Richard Durbin created an amendment that would result in interchange fees having to be "reasonable and proportional to the actual cost incurred by the issuer or payment card network with respect to the transaction", and would be regulated by the Federal Reserve. The fate of this amendment lies with the House-Senate committee with the financial regulatory bill.
People who are not in support of Durbin’s amendment feel consumers would be hurt through this change. Banks would offer smaller rewards programs, or end up charging higher fees to consumers for using their debit cards.
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