Credit Card Competition Act: What Would Change

What the bill would do

The bill was reintroduced in the Senate in January 2026. Its sponsors say it would direct that large card-issuing banks, those with more than $100 billion in assets, enable at least two unaffiliated card networks on their credit cards, and that at least one of them be outside Visa and Mastercard. Today a credit card usually runs on one network, the one printed on the card. The idea is that a credit payment could be routed over a second network, the way US debit payments already can. The bill text and any rules written under it would set the details, so treat any summary, including this one, as a starting point.

Why it is in the news now

On October 8, 2026 the Wall Street Journal reported on the President's support for the bill, with a White House spokesperson urging Congress to pass it. Trade coverage the next day noted that three more senators had signed on as co-sponsors over the summer, and that merchant groups and bank groups have both been meeting with the White House and members of Congress. Supporters say it will lower swipe fees. Banks and card industry groups oppose it. A bill with momentum is still a bill: it has to pass both chambers and be signed, and then rules have to be written and take effect.

What it does not change today

Nothing. Your interchange rates, your processor's markup and your statement stay as they are until a law is passed and put into effect. Be careful with any offer that says rates are about to drop because of this bill, or that asks you to sign a long contract now to lock in future savings. No one can tell you today what the final rules will be, when they would start, or how much any one business would save.

What you can do now

Two things are worth doing whatever happens in Congress. First, know your effective rate: total fees divided by total card sales for the month. That is the number you would watch if card costs ever change. Second, know how you are priced. On interchange-plus pricing the card cost is shown separately from the processor's markup, so a lower card cost would show up on your statement. On a flat or tiered rate you pay one blended price, so a lower card cost may not reach you unless your rate is changed. Our interchange guide explains how those card costs are built.

Debit already works this way

US debit cards already have a version of this rule. The Federal Reserve's Regulation II says issuers and networks cannot restrict debit transactions to fewer than two unaffiliated networks, and cannot stop a merchant from choosing which enabled network a debit payment is routed over. If you want to see what network choice looks like in practice, ask your processor how your debit transactions are routed today and whether you see the benefit of lower-cost routing on your statement.

What changes for multi-location and enterprise operations

Large merchants have the most to gain or lose from any routing change, so the questions get more specific. Ask your processor which debit networks your transactions run over now and who chooses the route. Ask whether network savings show up on your statement line by line, or stay with the processor. Check whether your contract lets your pricing change if card costs change, in either direction. And make sure finance, not only operations, owns the monthly review of effective rate across every merchant ID, so a change on one account does not hide inside the total.