This summer’s biggest points swindle
Travel websites are asking you to do something strange this summer. They want you to write to Congress and beg lawmakers not to lower your credit card fees. Sites that present themselves as working for consumers are running petition drives against the Credit Card Competition Act, a bipartisan bill that would require the biggest banks to let more than one network process your credit card. The pitch is always some version of protect your rewards, and there is usually a form: fill in your name and ZIP code, and a prewritten letter goes to your representatives. What those drives tend not to mention is who else is making the same argument. The banks run a campaign of their own through their trade group, and the airlines fund another. Swipe fees run roughly 2 to 3 percent of every purchase, merchants build them into their prices, and you pay them whether you notice or not.
