By MARIA HALKIAS / The Dallas Morning News
mhalkias@dallasnews.com

7-Eleven Inc. is using its 6,300 U.S. stores to send a message to Washington and the credit card industry.

Starting this week, the Dallas-based convenience store operator hopes to solicit 1 million signatures on petitions calling for Congress to change what the chain says are unfair and excessive credit card transaction fees.

Credit card companies charge retailers a fee for every transaction. The size of the purchase doesn't matter. And retailers have no power to negotiate the fees, they say.

For convenience stores alone, the fees totaled $8.4 billion last year, up 10.5 percent from 2007. That's more than the $5.2 billion the industry made in profit, the National Association of Convenience Stores says.

7-Eleven, which alone paid $160 million to credit card companies last year, is leading the lobbying effort, working with the association, which represents 146,000 stores nationwide. The efforts come as the sweeping credit card rules that Congress passed go into effect in February prohibiting certain fees on consumers.

Petitions are prominently displayed at 7-Eleven checkout counters.

Continue Reading at The Dallas Morning Herald

7-Eleven, NACS, 7-11, Credit Card Industry, Excessive Fees