America’s credit card industry is the most competitive in the world and delivers enormous value for consumers and merchants ranging from mom and pops to Goliaths like Walmart and Amazon. There are four national general purpose credit networks Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover. Roughly 3,700 financial institutions issue credit cards. Consumers enjoy a surfeit of choice. More than 300 banks and nonbanks provide payment acceptance to merchants. In spite of that, the credit card industry is in Washington’s cross hairs and value consumers and merchant take for granted at risk.
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