Heartland Payment Systems announced that from Oct. 1 through Oct. 3 the firm paid more than $1.7 million in Durbin savings to its retail clients. More than $671,000 the firm said, went to restaurant retailers.

"These savings are just the tip of the iceberg," said Bob Baldwin, president at Heartland. "Durbin dollars should stay where they belong–in merchants' bank accounts–and Heartland is helping business owners keep more of their hard-earned cash. Merchants shouldn't take this for granted. They need to be vigilant in ensuring they receive the cost savings they deserve so they don't unknowingly fall victim to processors looking to profit at their expense."

Heartland reported that between Oct. 1 and Oct. 3, 65% of its signature debit sales volume qualified as regulated under the rule and that on average there was a savings of $0.21 per transaction for regulated cards versus non-regulated ones, those from institutions with less than $10 billion in assets. The firm also reported that average signature debit non-regulated interchange fee per transaction was $0.44 while the average signature debit regulated interchange fee per transaction was $0.23. The average signature debit non-regulated effective rate was 1.55% compared to 0.80% for regulated institutions.