The Electronic Payments Coalition (EPC), a trade group representing banks, credit unions and card networks, is urging Congress not to extend debit-card-style network rules to credit cards. Its campaign argues that the earlier debit rules did not lower consumer prices and warns that a proposed credit-card measure could harm financial institutions and families. Supporters of the proposal say more routing competition could reduce merchants’ costs. The available records do not establish which side’s predicted effects would occur, or the bill’s exact legislative status as of October 7, 2026.
What the swipe-fee dispute is about
“Swipe fee” is a common term for an interchange charge associated with a card transaction. Merchants pay interchange fees to the banks that issue cards when transactions are processed. In January 2026 floor remarks, Senator Dick Durbin described the charge as “the fee that is paid to the banks that issue credit cards when you engage in a transaction.” (Congressional Record, January 2026)
The policy dispute is over who sets the terms and controls the route a transaction takes. Durbin has argued that merchants face opaque interchange terms and have limited control over network charges and routing. That is his stated rationale for seeking more competition, not an independently established finding about every merchant’s bargaining position.
What the Credit Card Competition Act proposal would do
Text reproduced in a 2025 Congressional Record entry would require covered card issuers and payment networks to enable transactions on a covered credit card to be processed over at least two unaffiliated networks. It would also restrict practices that inhibit merchants from choosing the network used to route a transaction. The proposal includes regulatory implementation requirements and an exception for a three-party payment system model. (2025 Congressional Record proposal text)
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In practical terms, the proposal is about network choice and routing for covered credit transactions. The reproduced text does not establish that the proposal is current law. The bill’s exact status on October 7, 2026 is not established by the cited records.
How the proposal differs from the Durbin Amendment
The Durbin Amendment is part of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act and concerns certain debit-card interchange fees and routing. Its statutory text directs that covered debit interchange fees be reasonable and proportional to issuer transaction costs, and it includes debit-network routing provisions. It is not accurate to describe the Durbin Amendment itself as a credit-card fee cap. The proposed credit-card measure would extend network-competition requirements to covered credit transactions.
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| Policy | Card coverage | Routing or fee provisions | What the cited material establishes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Durbin Amendment | Certain debit-card transactions | Addresses covered debit interchange fees and network routing | The statutory text concerns debit fees and routing. (Statutory text) |
| Credit Card Competition Act proposal | Covered credit-card transactions | Would require access to at least two unaffiliated networks and limit restrictions on merchant routing choices | These are provisions in proposal language reproduced in 2025; the cited record does not establish current enactment or legislative status. (2025 Congressional Record proposal text) |
Why the payments industry is warning Congress
Florida Politics reported on October 6, 2026 that the EPC launched its “Fool Me Once” campaign as the Durbin Amendment reached its 15th anniversary. The anniversary is the report’s framing. EPC says the debit-card precedent failed to produce consumer price reductions, while retailers benefited and families and financial institutions bore costs. Richard Hunt, the group’s executive chairman, put the message this way: “Fool us once, shame on corporate mega-stores. Fool us twice, shame on Congress.” (Florida Politics, October 6, 2026)
Those claims represent EPC’s advocacy position. The campaign warns that similar requirements for credit cards could harm community banks, credit unions and families; the cited reporting does not establish a quantified impact or show that such harm would occur.
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What supporters say—and what remains unsettled
The same Florida Politics report summarizes supporters’ argument that debit fee caps saved merchants money and routing rules increased competition in debit processing. Durbin’s remarks offer a related rationale for the credit proposal: merchants, he says, have faced opaque terms and limited control over charges and routing. These are arguments about the policy’s intended benefits, not independently measured conclusions in the cited material.
The records reviewed do not settle whether merchants would pass any savings on to customers, whether consumer prices would fall, or how costs and savings would be distributed among merchants, consumers, banks and credit unions. They also do not provide a neutral, independently verified estimate of the proposal’s economic impact. Readers should treat predictions from either advocates or opponents as claims, not guaranteed outcomes.
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What is known about the bill’s status
A 2025 Congressional Record entry reproduces proposal language, and Durbin’s January 2026 floor remarks discuss the act. Neither source establishes the bill’s status as of October 7, 2026. The Florida Politics report describes an EPC campaign against the proposal but does not resolve whether the bill is pending, has advanced, or has become law. Those status terms should not be inferred from the cited material; a current Congress.gov bill record is needed to verify them.
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