I love it when organizations try and do something good, but don’t think things through and end up delivering unintended negative consequences.
Today’s case in point: the US Senate and the Federal Reserve, both of whom are looking to reduce high interchange costs, but are unintentionally increasing costs for merchants and sharply boosting the undiscovered fraud rate. Not bad for government work.
Let’s start with the Senate, where Sens. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Roger Marshall (R-KS) have crafted The Credit Card Competition Act of 2022. Its stated goal: reduce the interchange fee that financial institutions and card brands (Visa, MasterCard, Amex, etc.) charge retailers.
