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US: DOJ, AmEx face off over swipe fees

By  |  July 6, 2014

American Express is expected in court today in a lawsuit filed by the US government against the credit card giant’s swipe fees.

According to reports, the Department of Justice is fighting AmEx’s policy that prohibits its merchants from encouraging their customers from using credit cards with lower processing fees; American Express charges the highest processing fees of any credit card.

The DOJ filed a brief ahead of trial that said merchants would testify on behalf of the government to say they would like to offer discounts and other incentives to promote competition among the credit card networks so they can negotiate with AmEx for lower fees.

American Express, however, is expected to argue that it actually promotes competition an holds only 26 percent of the market. That number falls to 15 percent if debit cards are included, the company said.

Full content: Reuters

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