The MRC has established strong relations with each of the major card networks, Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover. MRC works together especially with Visa and Mastercard to advocate on behalf of merchants, to ensure the merchant voice is heard as scheme rules are being considered, raising visibility on the impact of rule changes on merchants.
MRC has encouraged the card networks to provide a webinar in advance of each scheduled bulletin announcing rule changes that impact merchants. These are scheduled to take place in February and August annually, in advance of the usual April and October bulletin releases.
In the member-only webinars, the networks provide an overview of the upcoming rule changes as well as the expected impact on merchants. This goes a long way to preparing our members for the changes coming down the line and helps open a line of communication between the card schemes and MRC merchant members. This is solving a decades-long issue where merchants find out details, long after rule changes have been implemented.