Since the Credit Card Competition Act (CCCA) was first introduced in 2022, the credit card industry has spent over $100 million in advertising and lobbying to defeat it, and that spend is still growing. That is certainly a daunting number, but it turns out money can’t overcome the contradictions that come from arguing for the wrong thing. On almost a weekly basis, opponents of CCCA say or do something that undermines their position.

NACS and the Merchant Payments Coalition (MPC) have been diligently gathering these gaffes and sending them to Capitol Hill offices to expose their duplicity and falsehoods. The following is by no means a complete list, but provides examples of how the CCCA’s opponents can be their own worst enemies, and why we as an industry need to continue to advocate for the passage of the CCCA.

Money to Burn

As Oscar Wilde once wrote, “There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.” Well, the credit card industry has made sure that everyone on Capitol Hill is talking about CCCA. Big banks and credit card companies have launched ads warning consumers about Congress trying to steal rewards, or “the Big Box Bailout.” And if you happen to be caught up in a geofencing area for such ads, you have been inundated with their online messaging. They have paid spokespeople on talk TV and radio, including “The Points Guy,” and even bought ads to run during last season’s NFL games in almost every market. There is no way that Main Street merchant groups could have paid to generate this much buzz around a piece of legislation—underscoring to Congress just how much money the credit card industry rakes in from swipe fees.

Rewards Points

The claim that passage of the CCCA would cause consumers to lose their rewards points had been the credit card industry’s main argument against CCCA, but it has been thoroughly discredited by numerous independent fact-checking groups. One need merely to look around the world to countries that either have dual routing (like the CCCA would bring to the United States) or outright capped swipe fees (which CCCA doesn’t do) at a fraction of what the United States pays. All of these countries still have rewards programs attached to their payment cards.

Credit card rewards programs have already caught the attention of regulators and Congress. A recent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) report highlighted consumer frustrations with credit card rewards programs, including vague or hidden conditions to redeem rewards; the devaluation of rewards; a failure to reinstate rewards when consumers are unable to redeem them; and revocation of previously earned rewards. And according to a July 2024 report from The Capitol Forum, “Over the last five years, hundreds of Capital One customers have told the CFPB about problems with the rewards program. Many describe how the bank shut down their accounts without warning due to alleged concerns about fraud … then cancelled all their rewards.” Perhaps one of the biggest boons to the CCCA came from a recent poll of voter sentiment, which found that the “Lose Your Points” argument actually garnered more support for CCCA rather than less.

No-Shows

In February 2024, the Senate Judiciary Committee invited the CEOs of Visa, Mastercard, United Airlines and American Airlines to testify at a hearing on competition in the credit card market. All four CEOs refused to appear.

Why? They know that they will look bad when asked about how Visa and Mastercard centrally set prices for thousands of banks, or put those banks in a cartel-like structure to ensure that every bank’s card must be accepted by merchants. Nor can Visa defend its candid admissions on earnings calls that it profits from inflation.

The Sky is Falling

The credit card industry has rolled out the same arguments about CCCA that they’ve used about previous policies that it didn’t like. It’s cited things like free checking going away, lower income consumers losing their ability to bank, consumers losing rewards or the fear that transactions won’t be secure.

All of this because CCCA would require a second routing option. The credit card industry is trying to play into the notion that competition is a bad idea. Enter JPMorganChase, which announced this summer that it would be offering an alternative network on its payment cards in France. This is exactly what CCCA would do in the United States … but for some reason in America it means disaster. In France, Chase even said it was doing this to “provide competitive transaction costs” to its clients. No kidding. We made sure Congress heard about this one.

The Work Isn’t Over

Despite all the mistakes and falsehoods of the credit card industry, the bill’s passage is far from certain. You can’t win a vote unless you get a vote, and up until now, Congressional leadership hasn’t given us one. We believe we can win, but not without the ongoing support of retailers—you and your fellow Main Street businesses.

NACS and the MPC will be scheduling several fly-ins to Washington D.C. this fall to insist on passage of the CCCA. Even if you have done this in the past … perhaps several times … we still need your help this fall. Calls to your Senators and letters and meetings with legislators in your home state are essential. If a vote does happen, it will likely be the most important vote for Main Street in decades. With your dedication and help, we can get this over the line.