TCF National Bank, which claims to be the 11th largest U.S. issuer of Visa branded debit cards, has asked a federal appeals court to grant it another chance to stop the Durbin Amendment's implementation.
The $19 billion bank had sued the Federal Reserve on the grounds that the amendment that caps debit interchange is unconstitutional, and it asked the court for an injunction to stop its implementation while the litigation continued. But in an April 4 decision that pleased neither party to the litigation, U.S. District Judge Lawrence Piersol declined to grant the bank's request for an injunction, but he also declined the Federal Reserve's request to throw out the bank's complaint.
Piersol, after denying request for relief from both sides, asked attorneys for the government and bank to submit proposed orders to him. As of press time, TCF has submitted its suggested order.
According to media reports, Piersol had told the parties that the application of the Durbin Amendment only to banks with more than $10 billion in assets "gives the court some pause," because it may violate the U.S. Constitution's requirement of equal protection under the law.
Media outlets also reported that CEO William Cooper attended the hearing and expressed cautious optimism to reporters afterward. "I think everybody is uncertain as to what this all means," he was quoted as saying. "[Piersol] seemed to be very encouraging on the issue of equal protection."
Since its complaint had made it this far, the bank then appealed Piersol's rejection of its injunction request to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
In this appeal, TCF said that the Durbin Amendment's debit cap will cost it $200,000 per day and that debit card issuers as a whole stand to lose over $1 billion per month.
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
