Small business owners operate on thin profit margins, which have been increasingly cut into in recent years as credit card “swipe fees” have increased. Small businesses do not have the market power to negotiate with large credit card companies on “swipe fees,” so legislation in Congress is seeking to introduce crucial competition into the market.

Swipe fees have more than doubled since 2012 and the problem has been exacerbated by pervasively high inflation, which acts as a multiplier as swipe fees are a percentage of each sale. NFIB urges Congress to consider legislation that will harness the power of competition to give small business owners real choices when it comes to credit card processing networks. In an NFIB member ballot, 92% of NFIB members believe small business owners should have the right to choose among multiple credit card processing networks.

Two identical pieces of legislation were introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate that would promote the freedom of choice and allow small businesses the ability to choose between at least two credit card network options to process transactions. NFIB wrote letters of support to the House and Senate for H.R. 8874 and S. 4674 in the previous Congress and will submit new letters of support when the bills are re-introduced this Congress.

A recent credit card anti-trust settlement where Visa recognized their anti-competitive practices have caused ‘true pain points small businesses have identified’ was a step in the right direction. Learn more about the settlement and the impact of the House and Senate bills if Congress moves forward.