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Randy Hultgren, president of the Illinois Bankers Association,
said this flawed policy will make Illinois a radical outlier in
the global payment system.
“Splitting out elements of what has previously always been
considered a single transaction could mean Illinois consumers
are forced to pay tax or gratuities in cash or by check, and
purchases might require two transactions,” Randy Hultgren,
president of the Illinois Bankers Association, said at a news
conference Wednesday in Springfield. “This has never been
implemented anywhere else in the world.”
Supporters of the law, namely the Illinois Retail Merchants
Association, argued it will be an easy transition as some laws
already prohibit interchange fees on certain purchases.
A lawsuit that was filed against the act resulted in a partial
injunction, which protected federally chartered and out-of-state
banks from complying. Another court hearing on the law is
scheduled for May 7, a fact that doesn’t impress Gov. J.B.
Pritzker.
“Most of the time the court cases get thrown out and most of the
time those court cases are just because they couldn’t win in the
legislature,” Pritzker said Wednesday. “How about they come and
win in the legislature and then they can have their way.”
Since its passage last June, the Interchange Fee Prohibition Act
has garnered national attention as Illinois is the only state to
have passed a law regulating interchange.
Ben Jackson with the Illinois Bankers Association said it takes
years to make such a drastic change in the payment system.
“We all have credit cards with chips embedded in them now,” said
Jackson. “The onboard for that, getting merchants on board along
with financial institutions, took 12 to 15 years.”
Eric Cohen, CEO of Merchant Advocate, says the law would be
challenging for Illinois businesses, especially the mom-and-pop
stores.
“When looking at the intricacies you have to do, I think
business owners that understand it would probably say ‘you guys
are out of your mind, how do you want us to implement this,’”
said Cohen. |
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