Skip navigation

New Credit Card Bill in House

A bill introduced in the House yesterday would allow retailers to bargain collectively with Visa and MasterCard and the banks that issue their credit cards to establish interchange fees.

WASHINGTON — A bill introduced in the House yesterday would allow retailers to bargain collectively with Visa and MasterCard and the banks that issue their credit cards to establish interchange fees. Retailers would be granted antitrust immunity for the purposes of the negotiations, and the Attorney General would have oversight authority.

"This legislation will give merchants a seat at the table in the determination of these fees," said House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., in a statement. He introduced the bill, called The Credit Card Fair Fee Act of 2009 (H.R. 2695), with Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Pa. It replaces an earlier version of the bill.

"We salute Chairman Conyers and Rep. Schuster for sponsoring this important legislation," said Leslie G. Sarasin, president and chief executiev officer, Food Marketing Institute, in a prepared statement.

"Retailers need the right to negotiate reasonable fees with credit card companies, a fundamental practice in the American free enterprise system," she said.

Read More of Today's Headlines