Merchants Payments Coalition Sends Statement to Congress Regarding Swipe Fees and Tariffs

WASHINGTON, D.C. (April 14, 2025) – The Merchants Payments Coalition sent this “MPC Hill Blast” to Congress on April 9:

No matter what you think about tariffs, one thing is clear: the credit card industry will take its huge cut on every dollar of tariffs they can that make it into consumer prices and will create upward pressure on the prices of virtually everything Americans buy.

That’s because Visa and Mastercard have created a pricing cartel among the banks that issue credit cards. Visa and Mastercard dictate the swipe fee rates that banks charge Main Street merchants – and the majority of those rates are charged as a percentage of the price of every purchase. So, take the price that would have been paid and multiply it by the outrageous swipe fee percentages.

From 2023 to 2024 alone, the percentage multiplied by every Visa and Mastercard credit card purchase jumped from 2.26% to 2.35% (remember that the next time Visa and Mastercard pretend they don’t raise rates).

Multiply 2.35% by every new tariff rate and consider how the credit card industry will grab every dollar they can and multiply the impact of tariffs on Main Street.

In fact, Visa has admitted that this is exactly what happens in the context of inflation. In 2022, at the height of recent inflation, Visa said on its earnings calls:

• Visa’s CEO: “Inflation has been very positive for us” (read it here).
• Visa’s CFO: “We’re a beneficiary of inflation” (read it here).

The profit numbers are another way to see how the credit card industry takes advantage of situations like this:

• Visa’s latest reported profit margin 54.27%
• Mastercard’s latest reported profit margin 45.71%
• Big banks’ most recently reported average profit margin 30.89% (highest of all U.S. industries as of January)
• Retail’s average profit margin 4.60%
• Grocery’s average profit margin 1.97%

So, when you think of tariffs, don’t forget the credit card industry profiteers. Their calculators are busy making sure they drive up prices on Main Street America and its customers every day.

Something has to change.

NSGA is a member of the Merchants Payments Coalition.