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Controversial swipe fee law in Illinois heads to court
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Controversial swipe fee law in Illinois heads to court

(The Center Square) – Illinois is the only state to have implemented a law that limits banks from charging interchange fees on tax and tip revenue, but the law was formally challenged in court Wednesday.

A group of organizations, including the Illinois Bankers Association, has asked a federal judge for an injunction blocking the Interchange Fee Ban Act from going into effect next year.

Governor J.B. Pritzker said this legislation is the best outcome for Illinois retailers, which would also be limited in the rebate they receive for collecting and remitting sales taxes.

The Illinois Retail Merchants Association said the legislation would provide tangible relief to Illinois workers, families and businesses by limiting the fees financial institutions can charge on transactions.

“The U.S. credit card industry would still charge the highest fees in the world even with Illinois law in place,” said Doug Kantor, General Counsel for the National Association of Convention Stores. “There is no justification for slowing down the enactment of the Illinois law.”

On Wednesday, Charlotte Taylor, an attorney at the firm Jones Day, argued that banks have the right to charge fees.

“They provide services to the cardholder. They go out and market their cards to cardholders. They take responsibility for credit cards, and the state of Illinois says you won’t be charged for every 10 cents on every dollar, which I think is an overreach,” Taylor said.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the U.S. Treasury Department’s agent that regulates banks, filed a brief saying the new law was ill-conceived, highly unusual and largely unenforceable.

The American Free Enterprise Chamber of Commerce Due Process Center also filed an amicus brief. The brief laid out the ways in which the Illinois law subverted the principles of the National Bank Act of 1863, which was passed during the Civil War and was designed to bring uniformity to the banking system.

The Electronic Payments Coalition said the Illinois law is an example of a state government disrupting its own interests.

The law will come into force from July 1, 2025, unless the court steps in and blocks the implementation of the legislation.