Credit Card Competition Act of 2026

Increased Competition in Transactions: The bill requires the Board to prescribe regulations so that covered card issuers cannot restrict the number of payment card networks used for a transaction to just one network (Section 2(a)(1)(A)(i)). This could allow for more than one network to process a single credit card transaction.

Greater Freedom for Merchants: The regulations would prohibit card issuers or networks from inhibiting a person's ability to direct the routing of electronic credit transactions to a specific payment card network (Section 2(a)(1)(B)(i)(I)). This means people who accept credit cards could have more control over which network handles their transactions.

Standardized Security Technologies: The bill prevents issuers from requiring security technologies, such as specific authentication or tokenization, that cannot be used by all potential payment card networks (Section 2(a)(1)(B)(i)(II)). This ensures that no single network is disadvantaged by unique security requirements.

Protection Against Unfair Penalties: The bill prohibits imposing financial or other penalties on people for choosing a specific payment card network or for failing to meet certain transaction volume requirements for a particular network (Section 2(a)(1)(B)(ii)).

National Security Safeguards: The Board is required to establish a public list of payment card 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)(i)).