A big chunk of the House of Representatives joined together today to release a letter to conferees of the pending financial services regulatory reform legislation. The letter, organized by U.S. Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL), and Kenny Marchant (TX) was signed by 131 Members of the House. 71 Democrats and 60 Republicans joined in signing the letter. Read the letter, below.

The letter was announced by Rep. Wasserman Schultz, as follows:

With 507 million debit cards in circulation and $1.63 trillion in debit and prepaid transactions in 2009, the impact of this amendment would be felt by nearly every American family. Despite the broad consequences of the amendment, it was attached and passed onto the Senate version of the financial regulatory reform bill without any hearings on the specific debit card provisions in the Senate amendment. The unintended consequences the amendment would have on American consumers who use debit and credit cards every single day should have been investigated for the harm they would bring to consumers before the Senate voted.

“If this amendment stands, our constituents will pay more for basic banking products and credit cards and no longer receive valuable services like fraud and identity theft protection paid for by the current interchange system,” said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz. “Worse, the Senate amendment destroys the economics of prepaid debit card programs, which are increasingly relied upon to deliver banking products to underserved and unbanked recipients because they provide a convenient, lower cost form of payment. Under the Senate amendment, consumers lose.”

House Letter Opposing Interchange Amendment