SCOTUS Makes Ruling on Swipe Fees

Another story that we're watching, the US Supreme Court has revived a challenge by a convenience store in North Dakota against a Federal Reserve regulation on debit card swipe fees in a 63 decision. The ruling could make it easier for businesses to challenge long standing federal rules. The lawsuit in this case challenged the 2011 rule that governs the fees that businesses pay to banks when customers use debit cards for purchases. The lower court had dismissed the case based on the store Messina's six year statute of limitations. That typically applies to such litigation. I think that this is a hot topic, Dave, because one thing that we had noticed more and more during the pandemic as money became tighter and inflation really rose is that we were seen as customers. More fees added at checkout when we did swipe a card, whether it was a debit card or a credit card. If you used one of those means to pay, you likely in certain cases for me at the nail salon, for instance, would pay more than if you paid by cash. Yeah, it certainly is an entirely different dynamic at this point than it was pre pandemic. I've mentioned before that there are merchants who have testified and part of these lawsuits saying it was an 8020 split between cash 20% credit is completely flipped as now everyone pays with their phones, if not their credit cards. Those swipe fees are under attack from courts across the spectrum, including a judge who laughed off a $30 billion sediment with MasterCard and Visa saying it was paltry. Nowhere near enough compared to the 100 billion that credit card companies collected in 2023 on these swipe fees alone. Judges are not buying it. They are under attack.