A fee fight

The convenience store chain announced Tuesday it has collected 1.66 million signatures from its customers during a “Stop Unfair Credit Card Fees” petition drive.

{mosads}7-Eleven CEO Joe DePinto and representatives from franchises across the country will hold a press conference Wednesday to deliver the signatures, in 130 boxes, to Congress.

7-Eleven is pushing for legislation to stop credit card companies “from charging unfair, non-negotiated transaction fees,” according to a release. Reps. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) and Peter Welch (D-Vt.) will also be at the news conference, which is being held at Taft Memorial on the U.S. Capitol grounds at 1:30.

Not so fast, says MasterCard.

“It’s surprising that 7-Eleven, a company that prides itself on convenience, would mount such an aggressive campaign against the most convenient form of payment,” the credit card company said in a response.

MasterCard said its survey found that 75 percent of respondents believed the fees merchants pay for accepting credit cards is just the cost of doing business.

The bitter little lobbying fight is over interchange fees, which stores pay to credit card companies. Retail chains like 7-Eleven say they are too high, but credit card companies say lowering them will raise the costs to consumers.