Payments

Swipe fees hit record-setting $198.25B

Adobe Stock

March 31, 2026

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Credit and debit card swipe fees, charged by banks and by card networks to merchants for transaction processing, has hit a new record of $198.25 billion, according to the Merchants Payments Coalition.

The organization called the fees as an "out of control Swipe Fee ripoff," according to a press release.

"Credit card swipe fees make just about everything Americans buy more expensive," MPC Executive Committee member and National Association of Convenience Stores General Counsel Doug Kantor said in the release. "Swipe fees set a new record by taking more of our money every year and the impact on American families and small businesses is devastating. President Trump, lawmakers across the political spectrum, business groups, labor unions, consumer groups, Native American tribes and more are calling for bipartisan swipe fee reform. It's time for Congress to make America affordable again by ending the swipe fee ripoff."

Swipe fees costs $187.2 billion in 2024, according to the Nilson Report trade publication. That was up 5.9% in one year and up 80% since the pandemic. Swipe fees have grown 219%% since MPC began tracking them in 2009, when the total was $62.1 billion, according to the release.

Swipe fees for Visa and Mastercard credit cards made up the majority of the total at $118.8 billion in 2025, up from $111.2 billion in 2024. That was up 365% from $25.6 billion in 2009. Debit card swipe fees totaled $40.5 billion, up from $38.7 billion in 2024.