Debate Over Debit Card Regs Misses Some Potentially Pro-Consumer Rules

by Marian Wang
ProPublica, April 29, 2011, 11:58 a.m.

Controversy over the Fed’s proposed debit card regulations has largely focused on the proposed cap on interchange fees—the fees banks receive from merchants for processing debit transactions. That provision has sparked an all-out lobbying war between merchants who think interchange fees are too high and banks who accuse the government of attempting to fix prices. Even the small banks and credit unions that are exempt from the proposed cap seem convinced that their exemption won’t work.