(18 July 2007 – USA) Some 30 US merchant trade associations, known collectively as the Merchants Payments Coalition (MPS), have launched an advertising campaign targeting interchange fees charged by MasterCard and Visa.MPS said Visa and MasterCard schemes collected more than US$36 billion in interchange fees last year, up 17 percent on 2005 and 117 percent on the same figure in 2001.
The advertising campaign will point out how credit card companies use some of the billions they collect from interchange fees to pay for marketing campaigns, in effect paid for by the consumer, rather than for transaction processing.
MPS said a recent study showed that card companies and banks spent just 13 percent of interchange fees on actual processing with the rest going towards marketing, profit and rewards programs.
The campaign is launched in the same week as a House Judiciary Committee Antitrust Task Force, where committee members will examine the impact of interchange fees on consumers and businesses.