Summit Credit Union supports strong consumer protection practices, including the recent Senate approval of Financial Regulatory Reform Bill—except for one addition. A last minute amendment would mandate price controls on the interchange fees paid by retailers for accepting debit cards. This amendment would have unintended consequences for credit union members and every consumer with a debit card.

Summit, like all other banks and credit unions, incurs substantial costs (i.e., card issuing and operating expenses, fraud losses) to offer services like debit cards. A significant loss in the interchange fees that are earned will mean that many banks and credit unions will need to pass on additional fees to account holders to cover the costs of providing debit card programs.

The amendment currently exempts credit unions under $10 billion in assets; however no one has yet to explain how it is practically possible to accomplish that in a payment system jointly accessed by all financial institutions and retailers equally.

What can you do to help? We urge you to visit www.capwiz.com/cuna and tell your representatives to eliminate the interchange amendment from the Financial Reform Bill.