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Sen. Durbin blasts 'false and misleading' Parkmobile fee increase explanation
Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) is criticizing online and mobile parking meter company ParkMobile for attributing a transaction fee increase in Washington, D.C., to his amendment to the controversial Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform bill.
The Atlanta-based company said in an email to its capital area members Thursday that it was increasing its transaction fee by 13 cents to recover revenue that will be lost because of Durbin's amendment to the 2010 bill. The measure places limits on the amount of fees banks and networks can charge retailers for swiping debit cards.
But Durbin said in a statement released by his office Friday that the company's issue was with credit companies, not his addition to the massive reform law that was named after former Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and retiring Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.).
"Your company’s email and press release incorrectly blame the Durbin Amendment for increasing your processing fees," said Durbin, who is the second-highest raking Democrat in the Senate.
"My amendment did not raise these fees, it put a ceiling on them," Durbin continued. "Visa and MasterCard raised your fees, and as a merchant you were helpless to stop them short of the ceiling the new law created. ... The Durbin Amendment was crafted to put a limit on exactly the type of unreasonable swipe fee increases that you lament."
"Beginning October 29th, transaction fees in DC will increase from $0.32 to $0.45 due to increased costs triggered by recent federal legislative reform enacted by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act’s Durbin Amendment," the company wrote in the email.
Durbin said the parking company's argument was like "blaming a traffic cop for a driver’s decision to speed and drive recklessly.
"Instead of criticizing my efforts to stop Visa and MasterCard’s abusive fee increases, I urge you to instead join those efforts," Durbin said. "Your business and your customers will be better served if you do.”
The underlying Dodd-Frank law has been touted by President Obama and other Democrats as a safety net for consumers after the economic crisis of 2008. But Republicans have derided the measure as a burdensome set of regulations on business, and GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney has pledged to repeal it.
