It took years to accomplish, but Illinois Senator Dick Durbin announced Tuesday that his swipe fee bill amendment will become a reality.
Durbin proposed legislation in early 2010, and defended it again in March 2011, that would limit the amount a credit card company could charge a small business for processing a debit card transaction from .44-cents to .24-cents.
"We're cut it nearly in half," Durbin said Tuesday. "I wanted to cut it deeper, but the final decision was made by the Federal Reserve Board."
What it means is that small businesses will be able to set minimum fees, and won't have to pay so much for processing, which leads to more revenue.
Durbin said the key to passing the amendment was inviting small business owners to Washington to testify. He singled out Art Potash, owner of Potash Bros. grocery stores and called him the poster boy for the movement that took on credit card companies.
"It is interesting to me the battle that we had to wage to get to this point," Durbin said. "Not only against Visa and Mastercard, which wanted to have all the rights in the world to charge what ever they wanted to process these swipe fees, but the banks that issue the cards. It was a full court press."
Read more on Durbin's legislation here.
