The following content is Electronic Payments Union.
Whenever you stroll down the main street of any beautiful, charming small town, the bustling family-owned storefronts remind you of just how important small businesses are to the U.S. economy.
Unfortunately, Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Roger Marshall (R-Kansas) are seriously disrupting the economic future of our small business economy and the hardworking Americans who support it. Their proposals are: Credit Card Law This bill would limit card issuers’ ability to fund rewards programs, economically hurting American families and benefiting those who don’t need it: giant corporations like Walmart and Kroger.
Recent Electronic Payments Association Survey Found We know that roughly 70 percent of working-class American cardholders use rewards cards. While all cardholders prefer “cash back” points, Americans who earn less than $60,000 a year use them the most, with usage spiking during peak seasons like back-to-school and holidays. As families try to offset extra expenses during economically uncertain times, they turn to rewards rewards to cut costs. The report also shows that the increase in income from rewards redemptions is three to four times greater for working-class cardholders than for higher-income cardholders. For example, the points accumulated by working-class families equate to roughly 17 cents per gallon per year off gas pumps, providing real savings for working-class households. If this harmful bill passes, these rewards will no longer be available.
It’s not just loyalty programs that pose a risk to American families. Senators Durbin and Marshall’s proposed credit card bill could also have a negative impact on Main Street, according to a University of Miami report. Revealed The bill would have a devastating impact on small businesses, which would bear the brunt of the proposed changes, while Durbin and Marshall’s allies, the big store corporations, would benefit. The study found that the top 100 U.S. retailers could gain nearly $3 billion, with about 40 percent of that going to the big five retailers: Walmart, Amazon, Costco, Kroger and Home Depot. The report concludes that this would put small businesses at an even greater competitive disadvantage.
Additionally, the report found that small businesses are likely to lose out because small business owners receive about $12 billion in credit card rewards when they make purchases with their own credit cards.
While the businesses and citizens who are the backbone of our economy suffer, the grocery conglomerates can only see dollar signs. Earlier this year, the Federal Trade Commission The report was released The report highlights how grocery conglomerates have used their size and buying power to inflate prices of staples during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the report’s findings, grocers such as Kroger, Walmart and Amazon posted “substantially higher” profit increases compared to their all-time high profits in 2015. The FTC said the findings “cast doubt on the assertion that grocery store price increases are simply in step with retailers’ own cost increases.”
If Durbin, Marshall and their Big Retail cohorts truly cared about the well-being of hardworking Americans and small businesses, they would put an end to this bill for good.
