What is the Durbin-Marshall credit card bill?
The Durbin-Marshall bill is proposed legislation that would fundamentally change how your credit card is processed by requiring banks to offer at least two credit card processing networks on each credit card transaction.
If Congress passed this law, it would bring chaos to our credit card system by changing the way our credit cards work and how rewards, fraud protection, and payments security are funded.
What is interchange?
Interchange is an essential part of the electronic payments’ ecosystem. Payment networks and card issuing banks rely on interchange to reinvest in rewards programs, card security, fraud protection, and other technological advancements. Interchange isn’t a hidden tax, it is the cost of doing business in an electronic payments’ ecosystem that delivers speed, security, convenience, and scale.
Supporters of the Durbin-Marshall bill make sweeping claims, but real-world data tells a very different story. Interchange rates have remained virtually flat at ~2% for nearly a decade.
How does changing the credit card ecosystem impact travel and tourism?
The Durbin-Marshall credit card bill threatens to gut rewards programs and crush the tourism economy.
The Durbin-Marshall Credit Card Mandate Bill would deliver a double hit to travel and tourism. By threatening to eliminate credit card rewards, it would change how everyday Americans pay for and afford travel, while also pulling customers away from the small businesses and communities that rely on tourism to survive. The result would be fewer travelers, less spending and real consequences for an industry that fuels local economies and supports millions of jobs.
Banks would be forced to eliminate the points and travel perks millions of Americans rely on to make trips affordable. The removal of these programs will create ripples across the economy: fewer people will travel, tourism businesses will lose customers, and communities that depend on visitor spending could face devastating losses.
Oxford Economics Research found the Durbin-Marshall bill would cost the U.S. $227 billion in lost economic activity and 156,000 jobs. Cities and states heavily reliant on tourism could be most impacted, causing top U.S. destinations to suffer most.
The impact would be felt by the over 30 million U.S. households that have airline rewards credit cards. This bill will severely hurt hard-working Americans who count on their cash back, points, and rewards programs as a significant part of their travel and tourism budget.
Thousands of small and medium-sized businesses nationwide rely on travel and tourism dollars as their primary source of revenue. This bill would harm the American travel and tourism industry just as it becomes vibrant again, forcing Americans to face even more hurdles as they work so hard to recover and thrive.