Credit Card Competition Act: what merchants should know

The Credit Card Competition Act is a bill in Congress that would change how credit card transactions can be routed. It would direct the Federal Reserve to write rules requiring the largest credit card issuers, those with more than $100 billion in assets together with their affiliates, to enable at least two unaffiliated networks on their cards, with at least one outside the two largest networks. It would also bar issuers and networks from blocking a merchant's choice of route (S.3623 text).

The current version is S.3623 in the 119th Congress, titled the Credit Card Competition Act of 2026. Sen. Roger Marshall introduced it on January 13, 2026, with Sens. Dick Durbin and Peter Welch as cosponsors, and it was referred to the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs (congress.gov). A House version, H.R.7035, was introduced the same day by Rep. Lance Gooden (congress.gov). When we checked congress.gov on October 9, 2026, the latest action it showed for each bill was its referral to committee.

This guide explains what the bill says, how it compares with the debit routing rules already in place, and what it would and wouldn't change for a merchant. It doesn't predict whether the bill will pass, and we don't take a side on it.

What is the Credit Card Competition Act?

It's a proposal to give credit cards something closer to the network choice debit cards already have. Today the two work differently. The Congressional Research Service noted in 2024 that Visa and Mastercard membership agreements generally prevent card issuers from routing transactions over competing networks (CRS). Debit cards, by contrast, must already be enabled on at least two unaffiliated networks under the Federal Reserve's Regulation II (Federal Reserve).

What would the bill require?

The core of the bill is a list of things a large issuer or a card network could no longer do. Under the Senate text, the Fed would issue rules barring them from restricting the networks a credit card transaction can run on to:

1. a single network;
2. two or more networks that are all owned, controlled or operated by affiliated companies, or by networks affiliated with the issuer, or where any one of them is on a list the Fed would keep of networks posing national security risks; or
3. the two networks with the largest market shares, measured by the number of credit cards issued in the United States.

In plain terms, a covered card would need at least two unaffiliated networks, and at least one of them couldn't be among the two biggest (S.3623 text).

A few details shape how that would work:

• The bill doesn't name any network. It refers to the two networks holding the two largest market shares, and it has the Fed check, within three years after the rules take effect and at least every three years after that, whether those two have changed. If they have, that part of the rule stops applying.
• A second set of rules would bar covered issuers and networks from inhibiting a merchant's choice of network for routing, and from penalizing merchants for their routing choices.
• The House text says the rules "shall not apply to a credit card issued in a 3-party payment system model" (H.R.7035 text), so cards where the network is also the issuer wouldn't need a second network.
• Smaller banks and credit unions, under the $100 billion line, wouldn't be covered.

Just as important is what the text doesn't do. It sets rules about which networks a card must be able to use and who chooses the route. It doesn't set or cap credit card interchange rates, and it doesn't tell issuers which network to add.

What would change for merchants, and what wouldn't?

If the bill became law and the Fed's rules took effect, the change would reach part of your card volume, not all of it:

Here's one way to size how much of your volume the bill would even touch. Take a sporting goods store in Omaha with $100,000 a month in card sales, split in a made-up way:

So $46,000 of the store's $100,000, or 46%, would fall within the bill's reach. Most statements don't show the size of the bank behind each card, so for most merchants that split would be a rough estimate. What any change would be worth on that portion depends on things the bill doesn't set: which networks issuers add, what those networks charge, and whether your processor routes to them.

Those open questions are the practical ones to watch:

• Would your processor, gateway and terminals support the added networks? On debit, Fed staff wrote that issuers don't have to guarantee two unaffiliated networks will be available on every transaction (Federal Reserve).
• Would any change in network costs reach you? On interchange-plus pricing, changes in interchange show up line by line; on a flat rate, they reach you only if your processor changes the rate. Our comparison of interchange-plus vs flat rate shows the difference in dollars.
• What would happen to fraud protection? CRS raised that question, as the section on supporters and critics explains.

How does it compare with the Durbin Amendment and debit routing?

The bill would extend to credit cards the kind of network choice the Durbin Amendment created for debit, without a fee cap. The Durbin Amendment, part of the Dodd-Frank Act, led the Federal Reserve to adopt Regulation II. Since October 1, 2011, it has capped debit interchange for issuers with $10 billion or more in assets (Federal Reserve) at 21 cents plus 0.05% of the sale, plus a 1 cent fraud-prevention adjustment for eligible issuers (Federal Reserve).

Its routing rules reach further than the cap. They apply to every issuer, require at least two unaffiliated networks on each debit card, and stop issuers and networks from inhibiting a merchant's routing choice. The Fed's 2022 update, effective July 1, 2023, made clear that this includes online and other card-not-present debit (Federal Reserve).

Debit is the closest real-world reference, and the Fed publishes how its interchange differs by type of network. In 2024, debit transactions from covered issuers averaged $0.24 in interchange on single-message networks and $0.22 on dual-message networks, while those from exempt issuers averaged $0.26 and $0.61 (Federal Reserve). Credit is a different market with its own economics, so those debit figures say nothing certain about credit card costs. Our guides to the Durbin Amendment and least cost routing cover the debit side in full.

What do supporters and critics say?

Each argument below is attributed to whoever made it, followed by the Congressional Research Service's analysis. We're reporting the arguments, not weighing them.

Supporters, led by the sponsors, present the bill as a way to bring competition to credit card networks. Speaking on the Senate floor in 2024 about the earlier version, Sen. Durbin said he expected the bill to save merchants and consumers $15 billion a year in interchange fees (Congressional Record). That figure is the sponsor's own estimate.

Opposition, according to CRS, comes mainly from card networks and most banks, even though the requirement would apply only to the largest banks. Banks argue that rewards programs, a major incentive for issuers to attract cardholders and generally funded through interchange, may disappear if interchange revenue falls (CRS).

CRS's own 2023 analysis of the earlier version stressed uncertainty. It said that if the bill had an effect, it was unclear who would benefit. It noted that merchants generally favor the change because they would benefit from lower transaction fees, but that they might face more fraud if payment security weakened, and that it wasn't clear whether retailers would pass savings on to consumers.

CRS also said networks might be less willing to invest in secure payment technology if cards had to be interoperable, since part of the benefit would go to competitors. And it noted the rule might not push merchants to switch networks at all, because merchants would still want the most popular networks and consumers would still want cards accepted everywhere (CRS).

Where does the bill stand, and what would happen next?

As of our October 9, 2026 check, the bill hadn't moved past committee in either chamber. Releases from Sen. Marshall's and Sen. Welch's offices in January 2026 said President Trump had endorsed it (Sen. Marshall, Sen. Welch).

The idea isn't new. Earlier versions were introduced in previous Congresses:

The congress.gov pages for S.4674, S.1838 and H.R.3881 list the earlier bills.

For the 2026 bill to take effect, it would have to pass both chambers and be signed into law. Under its text, the Fed would then have one year from enactment to write the rules, so nothing would change for merchants on the day it passed. For the latest status, check the bill's page on congress.gov, which lists each action as it happens.

What should merchants do now?

Nothing in the bill affects your card acceptance today, so the useful steps are about understanding what you pay now:

1. Know your card mix. Your statement shows how your volume splits between debit and credit, which tells you how much of it a credit card routing change could reach.
2. Use the routing choice you already have. Debit routing rules are in force today, and our least cost routing guide lists what to ask your processor.
3. Know how your pricing passes changes through. On interchange-plus, a change in interchange shows up on your statement; on a flat rate, it depends on your processor. Our page on credit card processing fees explains each layer of your cost.
4. Watch the network schedules, which change on the networks' own timetables. Our guides to Visa interchange rates and what interchange fees are explain how to read them.
5. Check congress.gov for the bill's status rather than relying on headlines.

Because this is a federal bill, it would apply the same way to merchants anywhere in the United States. It wouldn't change card rules in Canada.

Next step

Whatever happens in Congress, your statement already shows what you pay. Send a recent one for a free statement review, and we'll break out your credit and debit costs by card type, so you know how much of your volume a change in credit card routing could reach. Or contact us with questions about our interchange-plus pricing.