Loading…
3
So the Fed's own data says debit card swipe fees are way cheaper than I kept reading, and now I'm second-guessing the whole interchange debate
I was digging through the Fed's 2023 payments study last Tuesday and saw that the average debit swipe fee came out to just 43 cents per transaction, which floored me because I'd been assuming the per-swipe cost was way higher based on all the merchant complaints I keep hearing, so now I'm wondering if anyone here who actually runs a small business has done the math on whether the Durbin cap really moved their numbers or if it's mostly noise.
1 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In1 Comment
ward.emery18d ago
I totally get that whiplash feeling, you read one thing for years and then a single number flips it on you. That 43 cent average tracks with what I've seen too, but keep in mind it's an average across all debit, so small merchants on the higher end of the range can still feel it way more than the headline suggests. From what I remember, Durbin did cut the big bank debit fees roughly in half back in 2011, but a lot of smaller banks and credit unions got exempted, so your actual cost depends a lot on who processes your cards. Worth checking your own statements line by line instead of trusting either the Fed average or the loudest merchant complaint you see online.
7