Campaign Giving by Text Seen as Fee Source: BGOV Barometer
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The Romney and Obama campaigns want supporters to be able to send contributions instantly using their smartphones, a step that would let telecommunications companies join in collecting fees that now flow to bank-card networks.
The BGOV Barometer shows credit-card companies including Visa Inc. and American Express Co. and payment processors such as eBay Inc.’s Paypal have pocketed more than $14.4 million in fees for handling contributions to presidential candidates so far in the 2012 election cycle, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. In 2008, when both parties had presidential primary contests, the companies took in $30.4 million.