Contact: Taylor West
202-261-2382
DAYTON, OH – Building on the 3.7 million signatures already collected by National Association of Convenience Stores members, Speedway SuperAmerica LLC (SSA), owner and operator of Speedway and SuperAmerica convenience stores throughout nine states in the Midwest, today announced an additional 1.68 million customer signatures as part of a petition drive to reform unfair, hidden credit and debit card swipe fees that burden merchants and their customers.
“Once again, hundreds of thousands of consumers are speaking up and asking Congress to take action to rein in the out of control fees that hurt small businesses and the entire economy,” said Tony Kenney, President of SSA. “All eyes are on Congress right now, and we’re urging them to come through for both consumers and merchants who have made their voices heard about swipe fee reform.”
Now that financial reform legislation has cleared the Senate with a strong bipartisan provision to reform credit and debit card fees, the merchant groups supporting the petition drive are turning their attention to the House and asking Members of Congress to finish the job and stand up for Main Street businesses and their customers.
With the additional 1.68 million petitions collected at Speedway and SuperAmerica stores, the total number of signatures delivered to Congress is now 5.4 million—the largest number of consumer signatures ever collected for a public policy petition.
These signatures are being delivered directly to the district offices of Members of Congress as they prepare to conference and vote on the final financial reform bill.
American consumers and merchants paid $48 billion last year in hidden credit and debit card fees—more than twice those charged in countries like the United Kingdom and Australia. The biggest concern to small businesses is that there is no end in sight; the rates charged to merchants and consumers have tripled in the past nine years, and continue to increase.
“These fees are costing Americans billions of dollars each year,” said Kenney. “Swipe fee reform is the type of stimulus that we need, and we’re counting on Congress to make it happen.”
“With this third set of petitions, consumers and merchants are standing up to the big banks and credit card companies and making sure that our voices are heard,” said Lyle Beckwith, Senior Vice President of Government Relations at the National Association of Convenience Stores. “As they try and strip the swipe fee amendment from the final financial reform bill with their threats and mistruths, we’re here to give Main Street’s side of the story and show to Congress that this is an issue that millions of people are rallying around.”
“These signatures should show Congress how much people care about this issue,” said Charlie Runyon, Region Director for Canton (Ohio), West Virginia, and Kentucky for SSA. “The Senate has gotten us very close to a victory for our consumers and our stores. Now we need Congress to finish the job by keeping swipe fee reform intact in the final financial reform bill. It’s time for Congress to listen to millions of their constituents and get the job done.”
Following today’s announcement, SSA will deliver the petition signatures to the district offices of the Members of Congress who represent the SSA customers in each market.
