7-11 Pushes For Lower Credit Fees

Convenience store chain 7-Eleven -- an advocate for credit card interchange fee legislation -- hosted a press conference Wednesday where Reps. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) assailed credit card companies.

The National Journal reports that 7-Eleven used the presser to release the results of its summer petition drive, which gathered 1.66 million signatures from the store's customers.

7-Eleven is lobbying for Congress to regulate interchange fees, which would curb the amount of money convenience stores owe credit card companies after credit transactions are completed. Dow Jones Newswire reported earlier this week that Sen. Chris Dodd indicated he was working on a bill to "substantially modify" interchange fees.

Rep. Lofgren called banks "greedy" during the press conference, while Welch said card companies "use market power" to force fees on businesses.

From the National Journal:

Both members touted 7-Eleven's petitions as a message straight from the people--despite the fact that credit card companies say interchange fees are a business-to-business issue that has nothing to do with consumers.

"It's not the banks" who own the government, Lofgren said. "It's the people of this country, who signed these petitions.

Reuters reports that transaction fees cost American businesses and customers roughly $48 billion in 2008 and, on average, store owners will pay almost twice as much in transaction fees as they earn in profits.