Congressman Canseco's Statement on Federal Reserve's Final Rule on Interchange Fees

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 29th, 2011

Contact:  Valentina Weis
(202) 225-4511 or

Valentina.Weis@mail.house.gov

Congressman Canseco's Statement on Federal Reserve's Final Rule on Interchange Fees

Washington, D.C.- Congressman Francisco “Quico” Canseco, a member of the House Financial Services Committee, issued the following statement in response to the Federal Reserve’s announcement of its final rule regarding debit card interchange fees as required by Section 1075 of the Dodd-Frank Act:

“While the Fed’s final rule is an improvement over its initial proposal, a price control is still a price control. Instead of allowing competitive markets to determine debit card interchange fees, government is artificially capping them. We know how well government-mandated price controls worked out for the American people when the federal government imposed price controls on oil in the 1970s.

“Consumers have come to depend on debit cards as a method of payment for transactions of all sizes. I fear that this government-mandated price control could significantly increase the costs to consumers of using a debit card, and negatively impact their ability to continue to access and use debit cards as they go about their daily lives.”

For more information or to schedule an interview, please contact Valentina Weis at (202)225-4511 or Valentina.Weis@mail.house.gov

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