How do
Corporate
megastores
get $235B
richer?
By telling Congress it’s for their customers.
In 2010, big box megastores asked Washington to cut debit card processing costs, promising savings for America’s working families and businesses. They got the cut they wanted — to the tune of $235B — then kept it all as profit, leaving you empty-handed.
Corporate megastores got higher profits.
Customers and small businesses got higher prices
While big box megastores pocketed the $235 billion, customers and small businesses paid the price. Now they are back – asking Congress and state lawmakers for another break – this time with your credit cards. Will policymakers remember what happened last time, and think twice before giving megastores another mega-handout?
What They Said:
Big Boxes, Big Lies
A Food Marketing Institute executive said debit reform “will generate significant savings, benefiting retailers and, ultimately, consumers.”
Leslie G. Sarasin,
President and CEO, FMI
FMI Newsroom, 2010A National Retail Federation executive said merchants are ready to pass debit reform savings “to consumers in the form of discounts and other benefits as soon as reform goes into effect.”
Mallory Duncan,
Former NRF Senior Vice President and General Counsel
Fox News, 2011The National Restaurant Association told Congress debit reform would “benefit consumers in the form of lower prices.”
Scott DeFife,
Former Executive, National Restaurant Association
QSRweb.com, 2011The National Coalition of Associations of 7-Eleven Franchisees chairman said lower debit card costs would “ultimately will be passed on to the customer.”
Bruce Maples,
Former Chairman of NCASEF
PYMNTS.com, 2011
What Really Happened: Corporate Megastores Pocketed Billions. You Got Nothing.
Corporate megastores told Congress they needed a break on debit card processing costs and promised the cuts would lower prices for consumers. It’s been 16 years, and those consumers still haven’t seen a penny.
How Corporate megastores cashed in:
the evidence
New economic research on the impact of the debit card cuts found that big box megastores received $235 billion in extra profits due to the cap on debit card interchange rates. Meanwhile, consumers and small businesses saw no benefits.
Tell Congress: Stop Corporate Megastore Greed
Corporate megastores pocketed $235 billion in savings meant for consumers. Now they’re asking Congress for another handout.
Sign the petition to tell lawmakers: enough is enough.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is interchange, sometimes called a swipe fee, and what does it pay for?
Interchange is a service charge businesses pay for the convenience and security of electronic payments. The interchange service charge, which averages two percent of a transaction, provides for secure transactions, fraud prevention, customer service and rewards such as cash back.
Those services benefit both sides of the checkout counter. Consumers get a fast, convenient and secure way to pay. The business gets paid immediately, shifts risk of nonpayment to the banks, and avoids the costs of doing business in cash, which research shows are far higher than the costs of accepting cards.
Sources: The Nilson Report (2025); IHL Group, cost of cash handling.
Who pays interchange?
Merchants pay interchange service charges.
What did the Durbin Amendment do?
The Durbin Amendment is a 2010 federal law that reduced rates merchants pay for debit cards. While merchants argued rate reductions would flow to consumers and small businesses, research shows corporate megastores pocketed nearly all savings, totaling $235B in profits for them and them alone.
Consumers lost valuable debit card rewards, community financial institutions reduced free-checking offerings, while small businesses faced unintended consequences, including transaction costs that doubled on certain smaller-dollar debit purchases.
Source: Robert Shapiro & Michael Strain
Why did corporate megastores pursue debit card cuts?
Corporate megastores cited lower costs for customers and small businesses as the reason for pursuing debit card cuts.
Research makes clear they didn’t follow through on their promise to lower costs for customers and small businesses.
Source: Robert Shapiro & Michael Strain
Did corporate megastores lower prices after the Durbin Amendment?
No, corporate megastores did not lower prices after the Durbin Amendment. The Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond concluded in a 2015 study that 98% of merchants either raised prices or kept them unchanged after the mandates took effect.
Source: Haltom and Wang, Richmond Fed Economic Brief EB15-12 (Dec. 2015).
How did the Durbin Amendment affect consumers directly?
The Durbin Amendment hurt consumers directly. Consumers lost valuable debit card rewards, and Federal Reserve economists found that fewer customers were able to access free checking accounts and faced higher monthly fees and minimum balances.
Sources: Manuszak and Wozniak, Federal Reserve FEDS 2017-074; Kay, Manuszak and Vojtech, Federal Reserve FEDS 2014; CreditCards.com, “Banks cutting, canceling debit card rewards programs” (2011).
Did the Durbin Amendment help small businesses?
The Durbin Amendment did not help small businesses. They received almost no benefit from the debit cuts, and some faced higher costs. In a Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond survey, 31% of merchants saw their debit costs rise. The rule replaced a charge that was a percentage of each sale with a flat charge on every transaction, which raised costs most for businesses with many low-dollar sales, like coffee shops and convenience stores.
Sources: Haltom and Wang, Richmond Fed EB15-12 (2015); Sablik and Wang, Richmond Fed EB13-10 (Oct. 2013).
Are community banks and credit unions exempt from the debit card cap?
On paper, yes. Community banks and credit unions with less than $10 billion in assets are exempt from the debit card cap, but they have not been insulated from its fallout. From 2011 to 2023, exempt banks and credit unions missed out on more than $15 billion in interchange revenue. Community banks and credit unions have few other sources of revenue to make up the difference, and that revenue helps fund the products and services they offer in their communities.
Source: Electronic Payments Coalition, citing Federal Reserve data.
What is the Credit Card Competition Act, and what would it mean for consumers’ rewards and security?
The Credit Card Competition Act, also known as the Durbin-Marshall credit card mandates, would require card issuers with more than $100 billion in assets to enable at least two unaffiliated networks on each credit card, at least one of them not Visa or Mastercard, and let merchants choose the network. The bill doesn’t set interchange rates directly. It uses a government routing mandate to push credit card interchange down. Rewards programs are funded largely by interchange, and routing mandates would force transactions onto networks that may offer fewer protections, so consumers could lose cash back, travel rewards and fraud protections.
Sources: S.3623 (govinfo); CFPB, The Consumer Credit Card Market (Dec. 2025).