May 19, 2025
Letter sent from COLT to Majority Leader Thune and Minority Leader Schumer
Re: Include the Credit Card Competition Act in Stablecoin Legislation in Fairness to Tribal
and Rural Economies
Dear Majority Leader Thune and Minority Leader Schumer:
I write as Chairman of the Coalition of Large Tribes (COLT)—an intertribal organization
representing the interests of the more than 50 tribes with reservations of 100,000 acres or more,
encompassing more than 95% of the Indian Country lands and more than half the Native American
population—to express COLT’s strong support for the inclusion of the Credit Card Compensation
Act in any Stablecoin legislation, such as the GENIUS Act, or any other moving vehicle. Simply
put. The Credit Card Competition Act would be transformative for rural and tribal communities
by allowing us to keep more of our revenues in communities rather than allowing big banks to
gorge on profits from their unjust, antiquated and complete unecessary swipe fees.
While on average nearly 50% of state and local governmental revenue is generated from
taxes, tribal governments do not have any property tax base, with land held in trust by the United
States. Nor do we have any reliable sales or income tax base with our historic unemployment on
our large land base reservations historically exceeding 50%. Tribal nations’ ability to raise
governmental revenue via taxation is severely limited. Yet, the needs of the tribal citizenry are
often disproportionately high due to the historic lack of investment in tribal infrastructure and
economies, and even more so in light of recent and ongoing federal austerity measures which are
reducing federal funding to Indian Country.
Given these circumstances, many tribal nations have pursued economic ventures spearheaded by tribal businesses and enterprises to fund government operations, stimulate local economic development and provide much-needed employment opportunities for tribal members and non-members. Tribal enterprises are a vital tool of tribal nations in ensuring the safety, security, health, and welfare of tribal members. Those businesses regularly transact with individuals and entities utilizing credit cards – including our tribal convenience stores, grocery stores, gas stations, hotels, restaurants, trading posts, art venues, and tourist attractions. But all of these tribal businesses are severely disadvantaged by sky-high credit card swipe fees.
On average, credit card swipe fees are the second-highest operating expense for local businesses and this is true for tribal businesses as well. Visa and Mastercard credit card fees totaled a record $111.2 billion in 2024 which was an increase of more than 10% from 2023 and nearly triple the $39.1 billion paid in those fees in 2014. The average swipe fee rate charged to local businesses jumped from 2.26% of the amount of a credit card transaction in 2023 to 2.35% in 2024. The fees have increased 70% since the 2020 pandemic alone.
Visa and Mastercard control more than 80% of the credit card market and set the fee pricing
for the banks that issue their credit cards. That central price-setting leads to rapid increases in the
fees and denies tribal businesses and tribes any ability to negotiate prices and terms as they would
with any other vendor that seeks to work with tribal businesses.
The Credit Card Competition Act would save about $17 billion in credit card fees per year
by simply ensuring that the giant credit card companies (Visa and Mastercard) need to compete
for tribal businesses’ transactions. Tribal businesses have a competitive choice with others they
work with and tribal businesses need to compete with each other (as well as off-reservation
businesses). Visa and MC should need to compete for business as well.
Factors present in origin story of swipe fees in the 1960s are absent today. Then, there
were costs to banks in acquiring and maintaining credit card customers with the new and emerging
technology in what was a manual process. It was novel to businesses—then—to be able to market
to customers who could pay with credit. Now 60+ years later, credit card infrastructure is
automated and secure, and much more like a utility. Yet despite the sea-change in factual context,
credit card swipe fees have ballooned to outrageous levels while the credit card companies provide
no value.
Across COLT’s member tribes, we estimate eliminating credit card swipe fees would keep many millions of dollars in the hands of tribal governments each year, allowing us to better serve our citizens and empower of rural economies by keeping more dollars circulating in our communities. 1
Additionally, we note that credit swipe fees are more than $1,100 per year per family on average. That is an outrageous amount of money, especially for our tribal families who often live well below the poverty line. Credit and debit fees literally keep food out of reach for some tribal families.
We ask for your urgent support on this critical issue. Tribal sovereignty and the ability to provide services to our citizens through sovereign enterprises should not be burdened by baseless and burdensome swipe fees. As Congress considers many avenues to uplift the U.S. economy and ensure fairness in our markets, enacting the Credit Card Competition Act should be at the top of the list. We urge you to include it in any appropriate moving legislation.
Vert Respectfully,
J. Garret Renville, Chairman of the Coalition of Large Tribes
Chairman of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate of Lake Traverse Reservation, South Dakota
1 Even if tribal businesses are only a small percentage of credit card swipe fees, the costs overall in COLT states are huge—over $4 billion in Arizona and Colorado, nearly $2 billion in Oklahoma, nearly $600 million in each of Montana and South Dakota—making the implications for tribes in those states correspondingly very significant.
MEDIA SHARES:
Credit & Debit Card Swipes Keep More Than $1,110 Worth of Food Out of Reach for Native Families Annually