Call To Action

CALL TO ACTION:  OPPOSE INTERCHANGE PROVISIONS

The United States Senate recently passed the Financial Services Reform bill that included Senator Durbin’s interchange amendment and sent it to a conference committee of select senators and members of congress. We are currently engaged in critical nationwide Call to Action asking Senator Schumer and our House representatives to take the Senate-passed interchange amendment out of the bill.

 All credit union leaders, staff, volunteers and members are asked to do the following:

• Call Senator Schumer’s direct Washington, D.C. line at (202) 224-6542 and ask that the debit interchange amendment be removed from the financial reform bill. Please note that this direct line receives a large volume of calls and you may need to wait on the line or dial again later.  Your patience and persistence is appreciated.  Sample script is provided below.

• Call the toll-free Congressional hotline at (877) 223-5275. After entering their zip code, callers will be patched through to their representatives’ offices. Callers can then ask their representatives to oppose—and ask their colleagues to oppose—the interchange amendment contained in the Senate’s financial reform bill. They can also note that the amendment will hurt their credit unions’ debit card programs and their ability to offer/receive lower rates and fees.  Due to the time sensitive nature of this campaign, the system will patch through calls at all hours and on weekends.  Following is sample phone script: 

“My name is ______________ and I am from _____________ credit union.  I am calling to ask that my Representative oppose and ask his/her colleagues to oppose the interchange amendment contained in the Financial Reform Bill. This amendment will hurt my credit union’s debit card program and my ability to use my credit union debit card. ”

• E-mail representatives using CapWiz: The previous request to send e-mails via CapWiz (http://capwiz.com/cuna/home/) remains in effect. Credit union leaders, employees and members should continue to flood their representatives’ offices with e-mails. The CapWiz process takes less than two minutes.

Additional resources, including talking points, reports and campaign materials, are available on CUNA’s website (http://cuna.org/pol_affairs/dec_interchange.html).