Senate Approves Limits on "Swipe" Fees

May 16, 2010  by in UnCategorized   

By Home Furnishings Business in on May 17, 2010

The U.S. Senate has approved a bill to limit "swipe" fees on credit card transactions.

"Wall Street reform is really about two things: holding the big banks accountable for how they operate and empowering consumers to make good financial choices," said Dick Durnbin (D-Ill.), who sponsord the bill in the Senate. "Passage of this amendment is a win for the public on both fronts."

The House of Representatives also is debating passage of the Credit Card Fair Fee Act.

Swipe fees are supposedly charged by Visa and MasterCard in order to cover the cost of processing a credit or debit card transaction.

An estimated $48 billion in swipe fees were charged by credit and debit card networks in 2008.