Banks and credit card companies are swimming in profits and one business and consumer group is urging federal lawmakers to pass a bill aimed at curtailing the credit card swipe fees paid by families and businesses that have fed those profits. 

Fees to use a credit card for purchases cost the average family more than $1,000 a year and also increase costs for businesses, said the Merchants Payments Coalition in a release. Meanwhile, those swipe fees have jumped 50% since the Covid-19 pandemic and siphoned tens of billions of dollars to card-issuing banks and credit card companies such as Visa and Mastercard.  

JPMorgan Chase, the largest U.S. credit card issuer, reported a record $54 billion in profits for 2024, a 17.9% increase over 2023. 

The coalition has supported a Credit Card Competition Act in recent congressional sessions to introduce competition by requiring banks with over $100 billion in assets to enable at least one alternative payment network for processing. The move could save merchants and consumers more than $16 billion annually by fostering competition over fees and service quality, the group said, and is encouraging lawmakers to pass it into law.