WASHINGTON—America’s Credit Unions and the Defense Credit Union Council, alongside several other financial trade organizations, filed an amicus brief Friday urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit to reverse a lower-court decision in Corner Post v. Federal Reserve that would sharply reduce debit interchange fee caps.
The case challenges the Federal Reserve’s debit interchange rule. In 2025, the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota ruled in favor of retailers, a decision the brief argues misinterprets the Durbin Amendment and would force the Federal Reserve to impose interchange caps far below the actual costs incurred by debit card issuers.
The brief warns the ruling would undermine the security, efficiency, and reliability of the U.S. debit payments system and threaten consumer access to safe, widely accepted payment options provided by credit unions and other issuers. It emphasizes that Congress directed interchange fees to be “reasonable and proportional” to issuer costs, a standard the Fed followed in its 2011 rulemaking.
America’s Credit Unions said it continues to oppose unnecessary interchange regulation and will provide updates on the litigation as available.
Jason Stverak, Defense Credit Union Council chief advocacy officer, said DCUC joined the amicus brief because the district court’s ruling threatens the stability, security, and affordability of the debit card system that millions of servicemembers, veterans, and military families rely on every day.
“The Durbin Amendment was never intended to force financial institutions to operate essential payment systems at a loss, yet that is exactly what this decision would do by ignoring real, transaction-specific costs like fraud prevention, network processing, and security investments,” Stverak said. “If allowed to stand, the ruling would not benefit consumers—history shows merchants do not pass along savings—but it would harm community-based financial institutions and undermine financial readiness for those who serve. DCUC strongly supports reversing this decision to preserve a safe, efficient, and reliable payments ecosystem.”