The US Justice Department sued Visa Inc., alleging the global payments giant illegally monopolized the debit card market, in the Biden administration’s first major antitrust case in the financial services industry.

There are more potential alternatives to Visa’s debit network in the event the company is penalized by the Justice Department.

Durbin and Marshall further used the announcement of the suit as an opportunity to urge passage of their Credit Card Competition Act, arguing that the CCCA is one way to bring competition to the credit card market and end the “price-gouging tactics” of the “Visa-Mastercard duopoly” that harms consumers and small businesses.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) filed an antitrust lawsuit against Visa. The lawsuit alleges that the financial firm holds a monopoly over debit network markets allowing it to charge banks and markets with exorbitant fees that get passed onto consumers and keep rival companies like PayPal and Square from competing on their level.