Call to Action: Pennsylvania Interchange Legislation
Contact Your Representative Today
Legislation that would prohibit financial institutions, including credit unions, from collecting interchange on the sales tax portion of credit and debit card transactions (HB 2493).
The legislation moves to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for consideration. All Pennsylvania credit unions are asked to contact their State Representative today and tell them “Vote No” on the legislation.
Please visit GUARD YOUR CARD PA to email your State Representative. A populated message has been created for your use.
Concerns About the Legislation:
- Current systems do not have the capability to identify and remove the sales tax percentages from the total transaction cost.
- Creating a system to uniquely account for the sales tax percentage of each local jurisdiction in Pennsylvania will take years and increase the cost of operating an electronic payment point of sale terminal – a cost of doing business that retailers routinely pass along to consumers.
- Research shows 93% of consumers are happy with their credit and debit cards. These requirements put customer benefits such as airline miles, cash back, and travel points at risk.
- Consumers use cards because they are quick, convenient, and significantly reduce the opportunity for fraud as compared to cash or check transactions. These card benefits are all compromised with the proposed legislation to change the card processing system. A change that would set Pennsylvania apart from every other state in the nation.
- There is no benefit to Pennsylvania in removing sales tax from the interchange fee calculation.
- The cost of implementation in Pennsylvania is one of many unknowns. It’s not certain if card processors can develop the necessary technology infrastructure to exempt sales tax and gratuity from interchange fee calculations or how long it will take.