On June 7,  a bipartisan group of House and Senate lawmakers introduced the Credit Card Competition Act of 2023 (S.1838/H.R.3881), legislation to end excessive credit card swipe fees for LBM dealers by allowing small businesses to access more credit card payment network options. This bill requires credit cards issued by the nation’s largest banks to be processed over at least two unaffiliated networks – Visa or Mastercard plus an independent network such as NYCE, Star or Shazam. Small business retailers would be allowed to choose which network to use so that payment networks would have to compete to offer the best pricing, security and service.

Big banks and card networks like Visa and Mastercard charge small retailers more than 2% of the customer’s total bill every time a credit card is used to make a purchase. Credit and debit card swipe fees have more than doubled over the past decade and soared 16.7% in 2022 alone to a record $160.7 billion. They are most retailers’ highest cost after labor – far too much to simply absorb – and drive-up consumer prices by more than $1,000 a year for the average family. With few people using cash today, small business retailers have no choice but to accept cards for payment.

The Credit Card Competition Act would address this by requiring that credit cards issued by the nation’s largest banks be enabled to be processed over at least two unaffiliated networks – Visa or Mastercard plus an independent network such as NYCE, STAR or SHAZAM. LBM dealers would be allowed to choose which network to use, meaning payment networks would have to compete to offer the best pricing, security and service.

NLBMDA members are strongly encouraged to contact their elected officials in Congress and ask them to support and cosponsor the Credit Card Competition Act of 2023.