Take Action! Email your lawmakers that we need relief from credit card processing fees.

Who we are

Wall Street profits from hidden credit card swipe fees while Texans pay the price.

Texans Against Hidden Credit Card Fees is a coalition of main street businesses and consumers who are working together to advocate for greater competition, transparency, and fairness within Texas’ credit card market. Current member organizations include:

What are hidden credit card processing fees?

Sometimes called swipe fees, these are the fees that every business pays to banks and credit card companies when they accept a credit card payment. Even though you don’t see these fees on your receipt, they are built into the price of everything you purchase. Usually, these fees add 2.5% to 4% to the transaction—applying even to taxes and tips that the merchant collects but is prohibited by law from keeping.

How do hidden credit card processing fees impact Texans?

The average American family pays an estimated $1,100 to $1,700 a year due to credit and debit swipe fees.(1)

Here’s why:
Every time a consumer uses a credit card in Texas, the business accepting the credit card pays swipe fees to different companies that help process the payment. Some of these companies are known as card networks (for example Visa and Mastercard), and others are known as card issuing banks (for example JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America). 


These two segments of the credit card industry are controlled by a small number of large Wall Street corporations, leaving local businesses no power to negotiate. In addition, consumers do not see these fees on their bills or statements, and often even local businesses have a hard time understanding what they are paying and to whom. 

Because this market lacks competition and transparency, American swipe fees are the highest in the industrialized world.(2)  In fact, American fees are about 6 times the amount that Europeans pay.(3) Still, card networks and card issuing banks continue to raise their fees, hurting Texas businesses and forcing them to pass cost increases on to their customers. Just in Texas, these credit card processing fees cost consumers and main street businesses over $10 billion every year.(4) 

In essence, hidden credit card processing fees are an inflation multiplier, increasing the cost of every item and service Texans purchase. 

  1. https://merchantspaymentscoalition.com/credit-and-debit-card-swipe-fees-totaled-224-billion-2023-nearly-one-third-more-previously-believed

  2. https://intellipay.com/u-s-merchants-pay-highest-acceptance-costs/

  3. https://wallethub.com/edu/credit-card-interchange-fees-by-country/129627

  4. https://cmspi.com/credit-card-competition-act-could-result-in-annual-savings-upward-of-16-4-billion/

See the numbers for yourself

Source: https://cmspi.com/publication/
state-of-the-industry-report/

What can Texans do about this?

Texas has many laws to protect consumers from anticompetitive business practices. Texans Against Hidden Credit Card Fees is calling on our state lawmakers to expand these laws to prohibit the most egregious credit card processing practices and save every Texan money.

Reach out to your lawmakers and ask them to support SB2056/HB4061 and SB2026/HB4124, two bills which shield local businesses and consumers from paying exorbitant credit card swipe fees when local businesses collect taxes and tips on behalf of their employees and for the government.

Take Action!

  • Whether you’re a consumer or you operate a business in Texas, use and share this link to email your lawmakers in support of SB2056/HB4061 and SB2026/HB4124 here.