The proposed law to cap debit card fees explicitly exempts cards issued by small banks and thrifts. Cards from larger institutions would be subject to interchange fee limits; the Federal Reserve would be given the right to limit these debit card fees (not credit cards), which now average about 1 percent per transaction.

But smaller lenders are taking no comfort from their exemption. They are concerned that merchants won't take their cards if they carry higher fees than those of larger institutions. And they are afraid that banks and card networks will simply lower the fees they receive. Reuters notes that while, Visa and MasterCard "have probably not directly told" small banks that they will receive lower fees, it's clear to many that there will be one rate for all issuers.

MasterCard and Visa, for their part, admit that lower fees will make it harder for them to invest in their networks, and that it will be difficult to apply separate fee structures to different banks. Supporters of the law saw that card companies and larger banks are merely scaring the small banks. We'll see if the final law addresses these issues. It was a shrewd move for big banks to get their smaller brethren on their side. 

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