Credit Card Competition Act: What Store Owners Do Now

Hey guys, Trevor here with E-Commerce Paradise. If you take cards on your store, the biggest bill you never negotiate is the swipe fee, and it just got a fresh push in Washington. The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that President Trump and Vice President Vance are backing a renewed effort to pass the Credit Card Competition Act before the lame-duck session ends.

Here is the nut graf. The bill would force the largest card-issuing banks to let transactions run over a second, unaffiliated network, and sponsors say that competition would pull swipe fees down. Industry voices quoted in the coverage say passage is still unlikely, so this is a story to plan around, not to celebrate or panic over.

In this post I will walk through what is actually on the table, why it has stalled for years, what could change for a store owner, and six moves you can make this month no matter what Congress does. If you are newer to this business, my guide on what high-ticket dropshipping is and how to start covers why card costs matter so much when your average order is large.

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Trump and Vance Are Pushing the Swipe Fee Bill Again Before the Lame Duck Ends

Let me start with what is confirmed and what is reported. The Credit Card Competition Act was reintroduced on January 13, 2026, by Senator Dick Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois, and Senator Roger Marshall, a Republican from Kansas, according to Durbin’s office. It is S. 3623 in the Senate, and a House companion was introduced by Representatives Zoe Lofgren and Lance Gooden, as PYMNTS reported.

The core requirement is simple to state. Banks with more than $100 billion in assets would have to enable at least two unaffiliated card networks on their credit cards, and one of those would have to be outside Visa and Mastercard. Merchants would then be able to route a transaction over the cheaper rail instead of being stuck with whatever the issuer picked.

President Trump endorsed the bill in a Truth Social post the same day it was reintroduced, calling on everyone to support Marshall’s bill against what he called the out-of-control swipe fee rip-off. What is new this week is the reported timing. The Journal says the administration, with Vice President Vance also backing the effort, wants to move the bill during the post-election lame-duck window, which opens after the November 3 midterms.

I want to be careful here. I am relaying a report, and the National Association of Convenience Stores, which has lobbied on this for years, covered the reintroduction in its own legislative update. Reported intent to push is not the same as a scheduled floor vote, and nothing here is law.

The money at stake explains why everyone is paying attention. Durbin’s office says banks collect $111.2 billion a year in swipe fees and that Visa and Mastercard control about 85 percent of the credit card market. The Merchants Payments Coalition, a merchant lobbying group, puts total swipe fees at a record $198.25 billion for 2025 and claims the bill could save merchants $17 billion a year. Those are advocacy numbers from interested parties, so treat them as claims, not audited results.

Why the Card Networks and Banks Have Blocked This Bill for Years

This bill is not new. Durbin and Marshall have introduced versions of it before, and it has never become law. The reason is a very well funded opposition on one side and a very well funded supporter list on the other, with each side telling a different story about who pays.

The merchant side says swipe fees are a hidden tax. A store that sells a $1,500 item at a roughly 2.5 percent all-in card cost is handing over a few dozen dollars on a single order before shipping, ads, or supplier cost enter the picture. Multiply that across a month and card costs often rank right behind cost of goods and advertising. If you want the mechanics of how those costs stack up on a big-ticket order, I walked through the payment side in my post on how to collect payments for phone and messaging orders.

The bank side says interchange pays for things consumers like. Issuers argue that swipe revenue funds rewards, fraud protection, and the credit itself, and bank groups including the American Bankers Association and state bankers’ associations have publicly opposed the bill. Their warning is that if routing competition squeezes fees, issuers will pull back on rewards, annual-fee perks, or approvals.

That is the counterpoint every store owner should hear before cheering. A fee cut for merchants can be a benefit cut for cardholders, and a lot of small-business owners, me included, use business cards to earn points and travel. A good example of how fast card perks can shift without any new law is the recent Amex Business Gold change that swaps a FedEx credit for UPS.

There is also a parallel track that complicates the picture. A federal judge granted preliminary approval on June 9 to a $38 billion Visa and Mastercard swipe fee settlement, and PYMNTS summarized the terms: interchange cuts of 0.1 percentage points for five years, a cap of 1.25 percent on standard consumer rates, and more freedom for merchants to surcharge. The Merchants Payments Coalition called the cut minuscule, and retail groups filed complaints in December, so even that deal is contested.

One more source-level wrinkle is worth flagging. Different outlets describe the network requirement slightly differently, with some saying at least one unaffiliated network and others saying two networks with one outside Visa and Mastercard. I used the description from the sponsors’ own release, and the NACS update I cited does not give a bill number, which is why I took S. 3623 from the Senate listing.

My Read: Cheaper Processing Is Possible, but Rewards Are the Trade-Off

This section is opinion, so read it that way. My read is that a store owner should treat this bill as an option on lower costs, not a plan. If it passes, the benefit would likely arrive slowly, because issuers, networks, and processors all have to build the routing, and savings might not pass cleanly through to you.

Here is why I would not bank the savings. Most small stores do not pay interchange directly. You pay a blended rate to a processor or a platform, and the processor decides how much of any interchange cut shows up on your statement. If you sell through a hosted platform, your rate may be fixed by the plan, which is one more reason to know what you are actually paying. The Shopify plan page and your processor statement are the two documents I would put side by side.

On the other side, I think the rewards risk is real for business cardholders. Business cards tend to carry the richest points and the highest interchange, which means they are the most exposed if routing competition arrives. If you are leaning on card points to fund travel or inventory, build your margins as if the rewards could shrink.

The macro backdrop adds pressure either way. Borrowing is expensive, with the Treasury yield recently at a 24-year high, which I covered in my note on checking your credit lines. At the same time shoppers are leaning on credit, as the ICSC holiday survey showed, so the cards your customers use are not going away.

The timing matters too. A lame-duck push has a short runway, and Congress has a long list of must-do items before the year ends. Reporters quoting industry sources say passage is unlikely, and I agree that the base rate for this bill is not great. That said, a presidential endorsement changes the political math more than any earlier version of this fight, so I am watching it rather than ignoring it.

One more thing about checkout. Big retailers are already reshaping how customers pay, such as when Walmart ended its long ban on Apple Pay. Lenders like Klarna keep expanding too, as with Wayfair’s six-month 0 percent offer. Whatever Congress does, your customers will keep getting more ways to pay, and each one has its own fee structure.

A quick note on what this post is not. I am not a financial or legal advisor, and nothing here is personalized advice. I am summarizing public reporting and giving you my opinion as a store operator, so check anything that affects your taxes, contracts, or surcharging with a qualified professional.

Six Moves to Make on Your Card Costs This Month

You do not need a vote in Washington to act on this. Here is the order I would work through it if you want your numbers tight before year-end.

Calculate your real effective rate. Take total processing fees from your last three monthly statements and divide by total card sales. That one number is your baseline, and it is the only way to know if any future change helps you.
Get your books clean enough to see it. If fees are buried in payouts, tools like Finaloop can separate processing costs from sales so you are not guessing. QuickBooks works too if you already use it.
Line up a backup processor. A single processor is a single point of failure. My comparison of high-risk payment processors is a useful starting point if your category gets flagged easily.
Look at what you pay on card-funded ads. Many stores run ad spend on a rewards card. Check ad costs against your return, because rising click costs, like the measured ChatGPT ad click costs, can eat the points you earn on the spend.
Read your state’s surcharging rules before adding a fee. The settlement news gives merchants more freedom on paper, but state law and card network rules still apply, and I would confirm the details with your processor and an attorney.
Keep your rewards, but do not count on them. Use points as a bonus, not as part of your margin math. If you want to compare business cards, I point you to the card page in the yellow box below.

If you are building a store from scratch, this is also a good reason to think about the whole stack early. If you would rather not wire all of this up yourself, my done-for-you turnkey service builds the store for you, so you can focus on numbers like these.

For supplier bills, my post on Shopify Balance paying overseas suppliers shows one angle. Wise is the tool I point people to for cheaper international transfers.

Want to keep earning rewards even if swipe fees change? If you want to compare business cards and see which rewards structures fit a store, start here: Best business credit cards for store owners →

One more practical step if you sell internationally or run a tight cash cycle. Compare a few payout options and business accounts, because the cost of moving money often hides in exchange rates rather than card fees. I also keep the invoicing side simple with FreshBooks when a store has B2B or wholesale customers who pay by invoice.

For social ad budgets, I would also spot-check what you spend on Facebook and where the charge lands, since a single card taking a large monthly ad bill can hit limits faster than people expect. Email is the cheapest channel for repeat sales, and a tool like Klaviyo lets you lean on that audience so every order does not depend on a paid click and a card fee.

When you step back, the smart move is the same whether this bill passes in December or dies quietly. Know your numbers, spread your risk across processors, and stop treating card costs as something that just happens to you. Stores that measure fees monthly are the ones that can react in a week instead of a quarter.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Credit Card Competition Act?

It is a bipartisan bill, S. 3623 in the Senate, that would require card issuers with more than $100 billion in assets to let transactions run over at least two unaffiliated networks, with one outside Visa and Mastercard. The sponsors say it would create competition that lowers swipe fees. You can read the sponsors’ summary in Durbin’s release.

Did Congress pass it?

No. It was reintroduced in January 2026 and has not passed. The new report is about a possible lame-duck push, and industry sources quoted in coverage say passage is unlikely.

Will my processing fees drop if it passes?

Possibly, but not automatically. Most small stores pay a blended rate set by their processor or platform, so any interchange savings would depend on how your provider passes them along. Track your effective rate so you can see if anything changes.

Could my business credit card rewards shrink?

That is the main concern raised by issuers and bank groups, who say interchange funds rewards. No one can say yet whether rewards would change, and it would depend on what passes and how issuers respond. I would treat points as a bonus, not as guaranteed margin.

How is this different from the Visa and Mastercard settlement?

The settlement is a court-approved deal with the card networks that, per reporting, trims some interchange rates and loosens surcharging limits. The bill is legislation that would change routing rules for large issuers. They are separate tracks, and either could affect your costs.

Should I add a surcharge to my store?

That depends on your state, your processor, and card network rules, so I would not decide it from a news article. Talk to your processor and a qualified attorney first. I am not a legal advisor.

What should I do right now?

Calculate your effective rate, set up a backup processor, clean up your books, and keep rewards as a bonus. The six steps above give you a simple order to work through.

Want to compare notes with other store owners on payments, ads, and suppliers? Come hang out with the community, ask questions, and see what other operators are doing. Join the community →

That is the story for today, guys. I will keep an eye on whether this bill actually gets a vote, and I will update you if it does. I wish you the best of luck out there. Thanks so much, I’ll see you in the next one, and if you want video breakdowns, make sure you subscribe to the channel on YouTube.

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Trevor Fenner

Trevor Fenner is an ecommerce entrepreneur and the founder of Ecommerce Paradise, a platform focused on helping entrepreneurs build and scale profitable high-ticket ecommerce and dropshipping businesses. With over a decade of hands-on experience, Trevor specializes in high-ticket dropshipping strategy, niche and product selection, supplier recruiting and onboarding, Google & Bing Shopping ads, ecommerce SEO, and systems-driven automation and scaling. Through Ecommerce Paradise, he provides free education via in-depth guides like How to Start High-Ticket Dropshipping, advanced training through the High-Ticket Dropshipping Masterclass, and fully done-for-you turnkey ecommerce services for entrepreneurs who want a faster, more hands-off path to growth. Trevor is known for emphasizing sustainable, real-world ecommerce models over hype-driven tactics, helping store owners build scalable, sellable, and location-independent brands.