Bipartisan duo urges Visa, Mastercard to call off planned swipe fee increases

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) urged Visa and Mastercard on Wednesday to call off their plans to increase credit card swipe fees, arguing that the move would hurt small businesses and consumers.

Swipe fees — or the fees that credit card companies charge retailers for credit card transactions — are estimated to have cost U.S. merchants $93 billion last year and are often passed on to consumers, the senators noted in a joint statement.