Credit Card Competition Act of 2026

Increased Network Competition: The bill requires the Board to prescribe regulations so that a covered card issuer or payment card network cannot restrict a credit card to only one network (Section 2(a)(1)(A)). This could allow for more than one network to process a single credit card transaction.

Freedom of Routing for Merchants: The bill prohibits card issuers or networks from inhibiting the ability of a person who accepts credit cards to direct the routing of electronic credit transactions to other available networks (Section 2(a)(1)(B)(i)).

Protection Against Security-Based Restrictions: The regulations would prevent the requirement of specific security technologies, like certain authentications or tokenizations, that cannot be used by all networks that might process the transaction (Section 2(a)(1)(B)(i)(II)).

Protection from Penalties: The bill prevents companies from imposing financial or other penalties on people for choosing to direct transactions through a specific network or for failing to meet certain transaction volume requirements (Section 2(a)(1)(B)(ii)).

National Security Safeguards: The Board is required to create a public list of networks that pose a risk to the national security of the United States or are owned/operated by a foreign state entity (Section 2(a)(1)(D)).