Number: RL34647
Title: Payment Card Interchange Fees: An Economic Assessment
Authors: Walter W. Eubanks, Government and Finance Division 
Abstract: This report focuses on the Visa and MasterCard card associations, which account for three-fourths of the payment card market in the United States in 2008. The report begins with a discussion of the nontraditional structure of the payment card market. The next section is an analysis of the problem of the optimum level of payment cards to achieve the highest social welfare benefit for cardholders and merchants. The third section discusses the provisions of the Credit Card Fair Free Act of 2008 (H.R. 5546). The last section discusses some implications of the analysis.
Pages: 10
Date: September 3, 2008