ICBA, state associations urge opposition to credit card routing bill

ICBA and 44 state community banking associations called on members of Congress to oppose the Credit Card Competition Act (S. 1838/H.R. 3881) while ICBA continues its grassroots campaign against the measure.

Bill Details: Introduced by Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) and Reps. Lance Gooden (R-Texas) and Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), the ICBA-opposed bill would require banks with more than $100 billion in assets to offer merchants at least two networks to process credit cards, at least one of which cannot be owned by Visa or Mastercard.

Community Bank Impact: In a joint letter to lawmakers, ICBA and its state partners said the bill would force an overhaul of the payments landscape at a significant cost to consumers and the community banks that serve them. This would drive community banks away from card issuance, solely to benefit big-box merchants such as Amazon and Walmart.

Grassroots Alert: ICBA is calling on community bankers to use its Be Heard grassroots action center to urge their members of Congress to oppose the bill.

Additional Grassroots: Meanwhile, ICBA continues calling on community bankers to urge their members of Congress to:

• Support a resolution to nullify the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Section 1071 data collection and reporting rule.

• Co-sponsor legislation to exempt from taxation the interest income on farm real estate and rural mortgage loans.