New Law Affects Credit/Debit Card Fees 

Among other things, the financial regulatory reform measure (PL 111-203) enacted on July 21 includes a provision allowing bank regulators to establish “reasonable” interchange fees for credit card transactions.
The law, which has to be implemented by regulations, allows apartment firms to pass these “swipe fees” on to residents and to set different rents and fees for cash, debit card, automated check handling (ACH) and credit card transactions within the same payment channel. NAA/NMHC actively worked to ensure the provision was included in the final bill.

Until now, firms had to process credit card payments through one portal and cash/ACH payments through another because existing laws prevent them from charging different fees for the different transactions. The change should make rent automation easier and more transparent for residents, and less costly and more effective for apartment owners.

The new consumer protection regulator within the Federal Reserve will release the regulations next spring, but credit card networks may begin modifying their requirements sooner because the new law specifically bans practices such as merchants charging one price for credit/debit transactions and a different price for cash transactions through the same payment channel.

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