The Durbin Amendment to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 capped interchange fees at 21 cents per transaction, effective Oct. 1.

Heartland’s data, collected Oct. 1-16 from its portfolio of 250,000 merchant locations, shows for every $100,000 of Visa and MasterCard signature debit and credit card volume processed, the average savings per merchant across all states is $260.24.

On average, retailers in Iowa are saving an average of $153.94 for every $100,000 of card volume processed. Washington, D.C.-based merchants received the highest average savings of $333.94, while Montana merchants had the lowest average savings,$127.87. The savings variance from state to state is a result of the number of large versus small banks in the area, as well as the mix of credit and debit card volume processed, Heartland said.

These figures represent the averages of actual credit versus debit and regulated versus non-regulated debit transactions for Heartland merchants and do not include the impact of PIN debit volume.

“Merchants are wondering how the percentage of regulated versus non-regulated transactions in their states would impact their savings, and this data provides insight into exactly that,” said Bob Baldwin, Heartland’s president. “By providing business owners a frame of reference for how much money, on average, their peers across their state are saving from Durbin, they have an idea of what their own savings may be. Familiarizing themselves with this information is a preliminary step in ensuring they receive the full benefit of the reform.”