Congressman Barney Frank, Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee, today released the following statement about the settlement announced on July 13th in which Visa, Mastercard and some large banks agreed to pay retailers $6 billion to resolve a lawsuit concerning the amount retailers pay to accept credit cards.

I welcome the proposed settlement.  I believe that a free market approach in this area will be better for the economy and all concerned parties than the current system.

I regret the fact that a Senate filibuster prevented needed reform of the interchange fee section of the financial reform bill, but even without that legislation this settlement is a move toward more economic freedom.