The right goal, the wrong credit card fix.

President Trump’s call at the RNC midterm convention to lower costs for American families deserves support. But an affordability agenda must do more than reduce a retailer’s expenses. It must protect a family’s ability to borrow responsibly when the paycheck and the bills do not line up.

That is the issue getting lost in the interchange debate: access to safe, affordable credit.

The Marshall–Durbin Credit Card Competition Act is the wrong answer because it puts that access at risk without requiring the consumer savings its sponsors promise. The president has the right goal. Congress should not hand him the wrong bill.

For defense credit unions, this is not primarily a debate about airline miles. It is about whether a young enlisted member can establish credit, whether a military spouse can handle an emergency expense, and whether a veteran has an affordable alternative when money gets tight.

Consider a family relocating under military orders. A spouse is between jobs, moving expenses arrive before reimbursement, and the car needs repairs. That household needs a manageable loan or credit line from an institution that understands military life. A promise of cheaper groceries does not solve an immediate borrowing need.

At DCUC, we have consistently warned that interchange restrictions threaten the resources supporting low-interest credit cards, deployment relief loans, financial counseling, and emergency assistance. These services help families manage difficult transitions without turning a temporary shortfall into lasting financial trouble.

Credit unions are member-owned cooperatives. Earnings support lower loan rates, reduced fees, and other member benefits. Money taken out of that model is not simply taken away from a distant financial corporation. It can mean fewer resources for the people who own and depend on their credit union.

As DCUC explained to Congress in June, interchange helps cover fraud prevention, secure card access, affordable products, and deployment support. If routing mandates reduce that revenue, the costs of providing those services remain.

Institutions could face pressure to tighten credit or raise other charges. That could leave fewer affordable options for borrowers still building their financial footing. These consequences are not inevitable. They are serious enough that Congress cannot dismiss them while advertising guaranteed savings.

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A smaller processing bill for a retailer is not progress if a servicemember’s borrowing options become more expensive or disappear.

That is especially troubling for a borrower with limited savings or a short credit history. A family turned away from affordable credit still has to repair the car, get to work, and pay the bills. The need does not vanish with the loan denial. Congress should be expanding responsible options for that family, not risking fewer.

Senator Roger Marshall says his bill will cut gas and grocery prices by 2 to 3 percent and save Americans $1,200 annually. Those claims deserve scrutiny, not repetition as established fact.

The legislation mandates additional payment networks and merchant routing choices for covered issuers with more than $100 billion in assets. It does not require retailers to reduce prices or pass savings to customers. It does not require lower interest rates on existing credit card balances.

Merchant competition might produce some consumer savings. But Marshall has not made those savings enforceable, and his promise does not answer the question that matters to military families: What happens to our access to credit?

His international comparison also overreaches. Marshall says Americans pay close to 5 percent in swipe fees. Yet the merchants’ own reported 2025 average for Visa and Mastercard credit cards was 2.36 percent. Individual rates vary; nearly 5 percent is not that average.

Meanwhile, Europe’s 0.3 percent cap applies to covered consumer credit interchange. Canada’s 0.95 percent arrangement applies to qualifying small businesses’ domestic, in-store consumer credit interchange. Neither describes every merchant’s total processing costs. These comparisons cannot establish that this bill will leave American households better off.

Nor does calling the legislation a fight against big banks protect credit union members. Qualifying credit union issuers are covered, too. And as I have argued before, smaller institutions can face costs from changes across shared payment networks even when they are not directly subject to the mandate.

I understand why small businesses want lower costs. Credit unions serve their owners and employees, too. But Congress should promote competition by strengthening affordable financial choices, not by assuming that helping merchants automatically helps borrowers.

Mr. President, let’s make access to affordable credit the test of this policy. Will more families qualify for responsible loans? Will their total borrowing costs fall? Will military households have dependable options during deployments and relocations?

Those questions deserve answers before legislation advances, not after families discover the tradeoffs.

DCUC stands ready to work with your administration and Congress on policies that expand responsible lending, reduce unnecessary costs, and preserve the credit union difference. We should strengthen institutions helping families become financially secure, not make their mission harder.

A servicemember should be able to focus on the mission knowing the family has somewhere trustworthy to turn. Protecting that access is part of supporting those who serve.

Congress should reject Marshall–Durbin. An affordability agenda that makes affordable credit harder to obtain has missed its purpose.

Serving ALL who serve.

Jason Stverak is Chief Advocacy Officer for the Defense Credit Union Council, a role he assumed in April 2024. He previously served as Deputy Chief Advocacy Officer for Federal Government Affairs at America’s Credit Unions and was interim chief advocacy officer in 2022 and 2023. Earlier in his career, he was deputy chief of staff to Senator Kevin Cramer and held senior legislative roles in Congress and advocacy organizations. A prominent voice on Capitol Hill, Stverak is a frequent media contributor and has been recognized as a top lobbyist by The Hill and the National Institute for Lobbying and Ethics.