Washington, D.C. (July 14, 2025) – In a new op-ed in Small Business Xchange, Andrea McGee, NFIB Principal of Federal Government Relations writes about the impact of soaring credit card swipe fees and why small businesses support the bipartisan Credit Card Competition Act. 

McGee writes:  

“The message is clear: These hidden fees hurt small businesses the most, keep them from hiring more employees and growing their businesses, make it harder for them to keep prices low, and keep them from contributing more to their communities, whether it’s sponsoring a little league team or supporting a charity. And in an increasing number of cases, swipe fees threaten the ability of small businesses to keep their doors open.  

“As every merchant knows, Visa, Mastercard, and the megabanks that issue cards under their brands charge 2%-4% of the transaction amount to process credit card purchases. Swipe fees add up quickly and totaled a record $187.2 billion last year, representing most merchants’ highest operating cost after labor. They are too much to absorb, especially for small merchants, and drive up prices for the average American family by nearly $1,200 a year.”  

[…]  

“The bipartisan Credit Card Competition Act would require that the nation’s largest financial institutions — about 30 banks with assets over $100 billion each — enable credit cards to be processed over at least one competing network in addition to Visa and Mastercard.” 

[…] 

“Enabling a second network would create competition over fees, service, and security and is expected to save merchants and consumers $17 billion a year. That is savings that would help small businesses.”  

Read the full op-ed here. 

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