Senator Marshall: My Credit Card Bill Forces Competition

Senator Marshall Joins Fox News Radio

Washington - This week, U.S. Senator Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-Kansas), joined The Fox News Rundown with Dave Anthony on Fox News Radio to detail his Credit Card Competition Act to hold big banks and credit card companies accountable, potentially lowering the cost of gas and groceries by 1-2%.

Click HERE or on the image above to watch Senator Marshall's full interview.

On the cost of living:

"Excited to talk about bringing the cost of living down. You know, the President is locked in on this. I've been locked in on it for, for several years. There's only two credit card companies and a handful of Wall Street banks that control over 80% of that industry. And because of that, because these little oligopolies, if you will, they're able to charge interest rates at 20 to 30%. Look, that's predatory loaning, in my humble opinion, that's something that the mob rates would offer as well. So, the President wants to put a 10% cap for one year's time and help those people out there that are struggling. The average American family has $7,000 of debt they're carrying forward month to month between the President's credit card bill and my credit card bill, we would bring down the price of gas and groceries one to 2% we would save Americans probably $300 a month."

On big banks and credit card companies:

"Yeah, well, that's a joke, right? It's an ignorant statement. The credit card companies have a net profit margin of 45 and 55% a piece. The banks have net profit margins of 20 to 30% they've got so much wiggle room here. Look, I'm kind of a Dave Ramsey fan, and if a bank is wanting to charge you 15 or 20% interest, they're probably telling you shouldn't borrow that money. So just try to encourage people to live within their means. And if you weren't having to pay the bank or pay the with credit card on this interest, you'd have enough money left to pay your to pay your electric bill."

On credit card rewards:

"Well, I think that that's all smoke and mirrors. I think that we're trying to encourage competition. Look, the banks want your business. Okay, that's why they make this rich credit, these reward cards, is they want your business. They are making money hand over fist, over us. They want not just your credit card business. They want to give you a loan for your house or a loan for your business as well. So, we just want to promote competition. And that's what this will do. This will promote competition. This is going to allow community banks to get back in the game who know their customers even better. I would never feel sorry for Wall Street banks or for credit card companies that are making 45 or 55% net profit margin."

On the Credit Card Competition Act:

"I think most importantly, our bill is going to lower the cost of gas and groceries 1-2%. We don't put a cap, any type of cap. All we're doing is forcing competition. So, the banks issue the card, and on that card, just like your debit card, there's different people, different networks to process it. So, we're forcing those banks, over $100 billion of assets, to have a second processor, a second network other than MasterCard or Visa. The bank gets to choose it. It can't be someone from China. So, we're forcing competition, just like your debit card. If you look at the bottom of your debit card, you'll see four or five different networks that the retailer can use. So, what we're doing is helping out hard working Americans, and by the way, we're helping Main Street over Wall Street. So, we're forcing competition, if that makes sense."

On swipe fees:

"So, every time an American uses their credit card, MasterCard and Visa charge, the retailer 3- 4% and they're passing that on to you. People in Europe, we're paying seven times more than people in the EU does, twice as much as people in Canada do, again because of these oligopolies, again, two credit card companies, five or six Wall Street banks, they're able to charge exorbitant credit card fees. So, every time using that credit card, you're paying another 3- 4% tax more or less for the privilege of using that credit card. You're seeing more and more companies when you go to different restaurants, they're saying we're going to have to charge you a 3-4% surcharge, right? Unless you use cash."

On Main Street over Wall Street:

"Well, again, I think that's pretty ignorant to say that convenience stores, grocery stores, operate at a margin of about a half or 1%. So they're competing with each other. You drive down Main Street, and you say, here's you compare the price of gasses, and they're all trying to get a penny under each other. So, there's so much competition in that industry that these savings will be passed on. You know, a lot of these convenience stores, grocery stores would say, next to labor, these swipe fees are the biggest expense they have. These swipe fees are more than their utility, more than they're paying for health insurance for their employees. So, they basically work on a cost plus a half a percent margin, Walmart, Costco, all those, Amazon, they're all working on a very thin margin and high volume. So, I think study after studies show that it's going to actually be passed down to American consumers. So, they're, of course, the person you're talking to there has a pretty big bias."

On American Express and Discover cards:

"So they're a closed system. They would be immune from this. So, they're closed system in the sense that they're the bank and the credit card network that does the processing. So, they would be excluded from it. I think it's kind of an apples and oranges game. So, there's nothing going on with them that I think would hurt things. It's a membership just but the closed system versus the two credit card companies, MasterCard and Visa. Look, they work hand in glove. They're a monopoly, and then they can control so many banks at the same time."

On bipartisan work:

"And what people don't realize, I've co led a bipartisan prayer breakfast for two years now, and then this prayer breakfast in the Senate has been going on since President Eisenhower days. 20 of us get together one morning a week, we pray for each other. We know each other. So, Dick Durbin and I have a close friendship because of that. Peter Welch is another person that's on our credit card bill, a Democrat from Vermont. Peter and I work out together, not that we plan on it, but we just got to have the same biorhythm that that every afternoon, about four o'clock, our staffs kick your side of our office and say you."

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