September 29, 2011 05:25 PM Eastern Daylight Time
WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The National Retail Federation today issued the following statement from Senior Vice President and General Counsel Mallory Duncan in response to Bank of America’s announcement that it will impose a $5 monthly fee on debit card users:
“Every time Congress takes a step to protect consumers, the banks use it as an excuse to raise fees. We’ve seen it when Congress limited late fees and overdraft fees and now we’re seeing it with swipe fees. Just as merchants and consumers are about to get some relief, they’re doing it again. That doesn’t mean Congress shouldn’t pass consumer protection laws. It speaks more to the nature of the card industry than to whether swipe fee reform should have been passed.”
As the world’s largest retail trade association and the voice of retail worldwide, NRF’s global membership includes retailers of all sizes, formats and channels of distribution as well as chain restaurants and industry partners from the United States and more than 45 countries abroad. In the United States, NRF represents an industry that includes more than 3.6 million establishments and which directly and indirectly accounts for 42 million jobs – one in four U.S. jobs. The total U.S. GDP impact of retail is $2.5 trillion annually, and retail is a daily barometer of the health of the nation’s economy. www.nrf.com.
