The following content is sponsored by the Electronic Payments Coalition.
Today, we swipe our cards for nearly everything – purchasing items online, going to the store for daily essentials, even when making charitable donations. What you probably don’t realize is what happens behind the scenes to make this ease of access possible.
These secure, seamless transactions are due to the robust payment process networks authorized and protected by banks and card companies. Their extensive global financial systems enable secure, reliable, and efficient electronic payments for everyday purchases. Most of us never think twice about the security of our data, and we shouldn’t have to. These systems have invested heavily in safeguarding your transactions, providing peace of mind as you swipe your credit card.
But not every industry invests as heavily in keeping it safe. Every day, 780,000 data records are lost through breaches and hacking efforts, as retailers regularly fall victim to data breaches, malware attacks, and more.
Recent legislation sponsored by Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Roger Marshall (R-KS), and backed by their corporate megastore allies, would place new mandates on how your credit card transactions are processed. The proposed bill would allow cards to be routed on alternative networks, allowing corporations to cut corners and turn to a cheaper, less secure router.
Time and time again, financial institutions have invested billions of dollars in data security as they fundamentally understand the importance of protecting their customers’ sensitive information. Banks and credit unions operate under strict data security compliance requirements and understand better than anyone the nuance required to work with sensitive financial information.
If the Durbin-Marshall bill passes, private data would no longer be in the hands of trusted financial networks; instead, it would transfer to megastores, who are willing to compromise their customers’ data security for the sake of increasing their profits.
A report from the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) provides greater insights into how moving routing decisions from banks to corporate retailers will lead to a heightened risk of data breaches. It highlights the significant data breaches retailer giants like Target, Home Depot, and Wawa have experienced in the last decade.
These retail megastores did not protect consumers’ data until it was too late. Home Depot did not appoint a chief information security officer until after their massive data breach, and the attorney generals in the Wawa case identified that the convenience store and gas conglomerate did not have reasonable security measures in place to protect consumer data.
Americans have enough financial concerns to worry about – we can’t be constantly worried about the security of our data, too.
Consumer data security is not the only item on the chopping block with the Durbin-Marshall legislation – credit card reward programs are at risk, too, threatening the financial security of low-to-moderate-income (LMI) Americans.
A new study found that nearly 70 percent of LMI cardholders utilize rewards cards, with spikes during late summer (back-to-school season) and November and December (holiday season). As families look to offset extra expenses during this vulnerable financial period, they turn to reward benefits to offset costs. If this harmful legislation is passed, this will no longer be possible.
It’s time for Senators Durbin and Marshall to decide who they truly represent: hard-working, everyday Americans or the corporate megastores. It shouldn’t be a hard decision to make.
