Washington
The U.S. Senate has approved an amendment to financial-reform legislation that could lower the fees that colleges pay when students use credit and debit cards to pay for tuition or books.
The amendment, which was approved by a vote of 64 to 33 during deliberations on the larger bill, S. 3217, takes aim at the "interchange" or "swipe fees" that banks charge merchants to process credit- and debit-card payments. The fees average 1 to 2 percent of a purchase, and are often passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices or extra fees.
College bookstores, which paid banks some $85-million in swipe fees in 2003, have lobbied hard for the amendment, joining other business groups to push for its approval.
Critics say the fees are far higher than the actual costs of processing the transactions and penalize small businesses.
The amendment would require the government to issue regulations to ensure that debit-card swipe fees are "reasonable and proportional" to the cost of processing transactions.
The amendment would also allow retailers to set minimum transaction amounts for card purchases and offer discounts to customers who pay with lower-cost cards or with cash.
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