Federal Update: Swipe Fees

On Friday, January 17, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held a hearing on the Federal Reserve’s challenge of U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon’s July ruling that the 21-cent cap that took effect on debit fees in 2011 was too high.

Under the Durbin Amendment section of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, the Federal Reserve was required to adopt regulations that would reduce debit card swipe fees from an average 45 cents per transaction to a “reasonable” level “proportional to banks’ cost for processing the transactions. The final figure was set at 21 cents, much higher than the proposed cap of 12 cents.

The Court of Appeals should issue its opinion this Spring. Stay tuned. Click HERE for full story.