Moneybox: The 12-Cent Victory

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moneybox The 12-Cent Victory The Senate's endorsement of "swipe fee" reform will help small businesses, but maybe not consumers. By Annie Lowrey Posted Thursday, June 9, 2011, at 7:23 PM ET Yesterday, something rare happened in Washington. Main Street beat Wall Street. Consumers beat lobbyists. Small business defeated big banks. Despite weeks of hyperbolic ad campaigns and a lobbying blitzkrieg, the Senate reaffirmed its decision to limit the "swipe fees" that banks charge businesses for debit card transactions, starting on July 21. But it is not so clear that this unexpected victory will actually help consumers. Currently, banks charge retailers swipe fees, also known as interchange fees, of about 44 cents per transaction, culled whenever an American pays with debit, some 40 billion times per year. Those fees are a moneymaker, earning the banks about $15 billion a year. But they are burdensome for retailers. Indeed, stores actually lose money on some debit-card transactions, and see their margins uncomfortably thinned on others. If you use debit to buy a 99-cent pack of gum at your corner store, that store very well might end up in the red for the transaction if it is kicking 44 cents back to your bank. Big retailers, like Wal-Mart, have the clout to negotiate the fees down with the banks themselves. But small stores do not. To continue reading, click here. Annie Lowrey reports on economics and business for Slate. Previously, she worked as a staff writer for the Washington Independent and on the editorial staffs of Foreign Policy and The New Yorker. Her e-mail is annie.lowrey@slate.com. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES Also In Slate The Reform of "Swipe Fees" Is a Victory for Small Business but Not Consumers Tracy Morgan Apologizes for Violent Anti-Gay Jokes: "This Went Too Far" Super 8: Elle Fanning Is Now Officially My Favorite Fanning	Advertisement
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