Second Network: credit-card routing savings model for merchants if the CCCA passes

I found no product that models a single merchant's savings under CCCA scenarios, and no database tracking which issuers have turned on second credit networks. The second one can't exist yet. The bill (S.3623, reintroduced January 2026) has not passed either chamber, so no issuer has enabled a second credit network. There is a renewed push backed by Trump and Vance to pass it in the lame-duck session, but industry sources still call passage unlikely (https://www.pymnts.com/credit-cards/2026/credit-card-competition-act-gains-new-senate-support/, https://www.paymentsdive.com/news/ccca-seeks-new-path-to-passage/813789/). The existing work is either aggregate advocacy estimates (CMSPI's $15 to $16.4B) or general cost analytics (CMSPI, Pagos, HyperSense, Payrails) with no CCCA scenarios. That leaves a short-term opening for a self-serve simulator for mid-market payment heads. It would read settlement files and use the bill's $100B issuer-asset threshold to show savings by BIN and issuer, with adjustable assumptions about second-network pricing and how rewards cards behave. Its strongest use before the vote is giving merchants numbers for lobbying and for negotiating processor contracts. The risks are serious. Demand depends entirely on the bill passing. If it fails, the simulator becomes a curiosity. If it passes, Pagos, BinBase, the processors and the debit least-cost-routing vendors already have the BIN data and routing relationships to add the same features quickly. The readiness tracker is the more defensible idea only if it passes: the issuer-to-network mapping becomes something every acquirer needs, as Durbin-regulated debit flags did. But the networks and BIN-data vendors would be its natural owners. A newcomer's best chance is to launch the simulator now as a cheap lead-generation and advocacy tool, then build the readiness data as the network-enablement rollout happens, and position itself to be acquired by an orchestration or BIN-data company.

• CMSPI (Payments Intelligence Engine / cost advisory)

  The closest incumbent. CMSPI wrote the widely cited estimate that the CCCA would save merchants about $16.4B a year in interchange (https://cmspi.com/?p=5547). It also does forensic, transaction-level cost audits for large merchants. It works mostly as consulting, not self-serve software, and it is aligned with merchant advocacy. Its existing clients would probably get CCCA scenario modelling from them on request.

• Pagos

  Pagos takes in multi-processor transaction data, including file-based connections such as Worldpay, normalizes it for cost optimization, and sells BIN data sourced from the networks that flags interchange-relevant attributes. I found no CCCA scenario feature, but its BIN data and data ingestion are the main building blocks for both product ideas.

• Hyperswitch / Juspay HyperSense

  AI tool that watches payment costs. It reads processor reports in their native formats, tracks interchange, downgrades, scheme fees and acquirer fees, and suggests optimizations. It has no CCCA modelling, but it overlaps with the settlement-file ingestion layer of the simulator.

• Payrails

  A third-party comparison describes it as continuously monitoring settlement data for enterprise merchants that use several processors. It is an orchestration and analytics player that could add routing-savings modelling.

• BinBase

  A 2026 press release describes BIN data with flags showing whether a debit card is Durbin-regulated, built for gateways' routing logic. It is the debit-side version of the Issuer Readiness Tracker, and the same approach could be extended to credit BINs covered by the CCCA.

• Debit least-cost-routing vendors (e.g. Payliance)

  Debit least-cost routing under Durbin is an established category, with vendors claiming 10 to 30 percent savings on signature debit. These are the companies most likely to extend into credit routing if the CCCA passes.

• Fiserv (Star, Accel) and FIS (NYCE)

  Processors that own debit networks and are the likely second credit networks. Fiserv says it is evaluating whether it can support the CCCA's requirements. They would publish their own routing and pricing information and could bundle savings tools for their acquiring clients.

Checked 2026-10-11