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Payments Glossary · Law & Regulation

Credit Card Competition Act (CCCA)

Also called CCCA, S. 3623, credit routing mandate

A bill, not a law, that would require large issuers to enable a second unaffiliated network on credit cards.

What it is

The Credit Card Competition Act would extend the routing concept from debit to credit. Its core mechanic is that banks with more than 100 billion dollars in assets must enable at least two unaffiliated networks on their credit cards, at least one of which is not Visa or Mastercard, and may not restrict merchant routing. It was reintroduced on January 13, 2026 by Senators Durbin and Marshall as S. 3623, with a House companion, H.R. 7035, introduced by Representative Lance Gooden. President Trump endorsed it in January 2026, which is a genuine change from prior Congresses. As of August 11, 2026, three additional Senate cosponsors joined: Bernie Moreno, Cynthia Lummis and Angus King. As of this writing there is no floor vote scheduled. Bank and credit union opposition remains heavy, and most observers expect that if it passes at all it will do so as an amendment to a larger legislative vehicle rather than as a standalone bill. The implementation timeline matters as much as the politics. Even if enacted, the Federal Reserve would need to write implementing rules, a process that would plausibly take about a year, and networks and issuers would need to build. Any savings would arrive years after passage, and would reach merchants only through their pricing structure.

Why it matters to your business

The honest statement to a business owner is this: a credit routing mandate is gaining cosponsors and has White House support, but it is not law, there is no scheduled vote, and even if it passed the Fed would need roughly a year of rulemaking before anything changed. Anyone quoting you future savings from the CCCA is selling fiction. Treat that as a signal about the provider, not about the bill. This is education, not legal advice, and the legislative status described here can change; verify before relying on it.

Where it gets contested

This is one of the most heavily lobbied fights in financial services. Merchant groups, led by retail and convenience store associations, argue that credit interchange is set by a duopoly with no competitive pressure and that routing competition is the only structural fix. Banks, credit unions and airlines argue that routing mandates would destroy rewards programs, harm community institutions, and reduce security investment. The cosponsor arithmetic has moved, and presidential endorsement is a meaningful change, but neither is a vote. The bill has been introduced in multiple Congresses without reaching the floor. What is unresolved, and worth saying plainly, is whether routing competition on credit would actually lower merchant costs. Debit routing produced savings but debit had a statutory cap alongside it. Credit has no cap in this bill, only routing. The economic prediction is contested by serious people on both sides.

How to check it yourself

Search the bill number, S. 3623, on congress.gov and read the current status and cosponsor list yourself. If a provider has told you the CCCA is passing or has passed, that page settles it in thirty seconds.

Receipts

Claims above that are checkable, with where to check them. Published so you do not have to take anyone's word for it.