Greenville Leader

Matthew Brownlee, a Greenville resident, said proposed Senate Bill 1838, the Credit Card Competition Act’s (CCCA), claims of benefitting American consumers is false and based on inaccurate polling from large retailers. 

“Proponents of the Credit Card Competition Act claim its passage would mean lower fees and less foreign access to America’s data,” Brownlee wrote in a letter to Post and Courier. “But these claims are based on desperation and retailer-backed polling, not facts.”

“Americans deserve to be told the truth about the Credit Card Competition Act,” he wrote. “Consumers will not see lower fees or have greater data security under this legislation. They will likely just see higher price tags.”

The bill, S. 1838, or the “Credit Card Competition Act” (CCCA, S. 1838), sponsored by U.S. Sens. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) and Roger Marshall (R-Kans.), would require banks to offer merchants at least two network options, one of which cannot be Visa or Mastercard, for processing credit card transactions. Opponents to the bill argue that if given the choice, retailers would likely choose cheaper, less secure networks for processing transactions, thereby exposing consumers to increased securities and fraud risks.  

“Research uncovers the numerous false claims that supporters of this bill argue, such as the high cost of interchange, the fee the merchant pays when a customer uses a credit card,” Brownlee wrote in his letter. “However, data shows that credit card interchange has remained flat since 2016 at about 1.8%. The only costs that have risen are megastore prices.”

“The primary issue with the CCCA is that it would mandate banks and credit unions to route credit card transactions through the lowest-cost networks,” Haleigh Laverty, communications specialist with the Defense Credit Union Council, told The Sconi. “This could expose transactions to increased fraud risks, as these networks often underinvest in security innovations.”

S. 1838 is currently pending in the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.

Matthew Brownlee is a land professional for National Land Realty in Greenville, South Carolina. He grew up on a farm in the upstate area, and is working to promote his passion for the rural land, downtown communities, and history of the upstate area, according to his LinkedIn profile.