Payments/Credit/Debit

Despite intense opposition by credit unions and banks, a bipartisan majority in the Senate last night voted 64-33 to pass an amendment to the regulatory overhaul bill that will restrict interchange fees.

NAFCU vowed it would continue to oppose an amendment to the regulatory overhaul bill that would regulate card interchange. The measure was sponsored and championed by Illinois Democratic Senator Richard Durbin.

The industry's massive lobbying effort this week to oppose Sen. Durbin's interchange amendment triggered an estimated 35,000 letters and e-mail messages to U.S. senators but that was apparently dwarfed by retailers' counter campaign.

The $889 million Los Angeles Firemen's Credit Union has notified some of its more than 28,000 members that private information may have been compromised.

In advance of today's vote on an interchange amendment, NAFCU members and credit union leagues are re-doubling their lobbying efforts to kill the proposal.

The $3.1 billion United Nations Federal Credit Union has become the first financial institution in the U.S. to issue the sort of chip and pin credit card that members will be able to easily use both in the U.S. and overseas.