Main Street businesses welcome ‘swipe fees’ House bill

Washington, D.C. Small businesses applauded new bipartisan legislation in the House of Representatives to rein in the huge, hidden “swipe fees” known as interchange, that big banks collect from small businesses every time a customer uses a credit card to pay, according to www.UnfairCreditCardFees.com.

The House legislation comes just one day after Senators Durbin (D-IL) and Bond (R-MO) announced a planned amendment to the Senate’s credit-card legislation that would take a first step towards transparency and consumer discounts in the swipe-fee system.

Last year, banks raked in more than $48 billion in swipe fees, costing Americans more than credit-card annual fees, cash-advance fees, over-the-limit fees, and late fees combined.

The new House legislation is known as the Welch-Shuster Credit Card Interchange Fees Act of 2009 (HR 2382).