Credit Card Competition Act of 2026

This bill amends the Electronic Fund Transfer Act to require the Federal Reserve Board to issue regulations promoting competition in credit card transaction processing. It aims to prevent card issuers and networks from restricting the number of networks that can process a credit card transaction and from blocking merchants from routing transactions over competing networks.

Sec. 2, Competition in credit card transactions: The bill adds new rules to the Electronic Fund Transfer Act. First, within one year, the Board must issue regulations barring large card issuers (with over $100 billion in assets) and payment card networks from limiting a credit card to only one processing network, or to two networks that are affiliated or on a national security risk list, or to the two largest networks by market share (with a review every three years). Second, the Board must issue regulations prohibiting these issuers and networks from restricting merchants' ability to route transactions over any eligible network not on a national security risk list, from requiring exclusive use of security technologies that other networks cannot use, or from penalizing merchants for choosing a different network. These rules do not apply to credit cards issued in a three-party payment system model (where the issuer and network are the same or affiliated). The Board, with the Treasury Secretary, must also create and update a public list of payment card networks that pose a national security risk or are foreign state-owned. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is excluded from enforcing these new requirements. The regulations take effect 180 days after final issuance.