Sebastian Fuentes is the NH Movement Politics Director for Rights & Democracy. He has collaborated with Coos County Democrats, and Plymouth Area Democrats, and became the first Latino NH State Democratic delegate from the North Country, co-founded the NH Progressive Coalition, and served as Vice Chair of the NH Democratic Latino Caucus.

Since immigrating to the U.S. in 2001, I’ve worked to give back to the communities that have meant so much to me here in New Hampshire. My work for the Coos County Democrats, the New Hampshire Progressive Coalition, and currently as the New Hampshire Political Director for Rights and Democracy has always been built around a belief in equity.

And one big way to promote equitable economic outcomes is to make sure folks in underserved communities have access to banking. Getting a no-fee credit card, which may seem small, can be the start of someone entering the formal economy and building up their credit to get a car loan, business loan, or mortgage.

Unfortunately, a bill has been introduced in Washington that we know would lessen access to the consumer credit market for already underbanked communities. The Credit Card Competition Act (CCCA) will allow big box retailers to pay less in interchange fees by letting them choose payment processing networks, rather than using card user’s preferred networks.

As someone living in rural New Hampshire, I can see how the CCCA would impact many businesses from the North Country diners to small bookstores, while already struggling to compete with big box stores. The CCCA would also be a raw deal for unbanked and minority communities and consumers. We’ve seen this happen before. In 2010 when the Durbin Amendment became law the result was a win for big box retailers, mom-and-pop shops as well as consumers lost.

After the Durbin Amendment passed, the biggest retailers made an extra $100 billion in profits, but the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond found that these savings were not passed onto American families — 98.8% of retailers either kept prices the same or even raised them. Applying similar rules to credit cards will only negatively impact cardholders. For people already left behind by the financial system, that means fewer credit cards with no annual fees to choose from and less access to credit overall because banks and credit unions would be forced to raise credit standards.

We know that rural and BIPOC communities are disproportionately underbanked and the Durbin Amendment directly led to the disappearance of many no-fee checking accounts. The Durbin Amendment enriched mega retailers and we were left to pay the price. When the Australian Reserve Bank imposed Durbin-style regulations on credit cards, consumers had to pay hundreds of dollars in account fees and lost access to no-fee credit cards. The CCCA would lead to the same results in the credit card market in the U.S.

Work to balance the needs of small businesses with the reality of the modern credit card market is already ongoing. The two largest payment processors have reached a settlement with merchants. This settlement allows small businesses to directly negotiate interchange rates with payment networks and empowers them to compete with big box retailers without endangering the credit access Black and Brown communities need.

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Our experience with the Durbin Amendment shows that the only real winners from the CCCA will be the biggest retailers in the country and that the already underbanked are left to deal with the consequences like the loss of free credit cards. I hope that Congress rejects it in order to protect the many small businesses and underserved communities.