SAN DIEGO — Just fresh from wrapping up my first whirlwind day at the annual Electronic Transaction Association Annual Meeting & Expo — with a bloody toe serving as my tradeshow battle wound de jour— two themes from sessions and meetings stood out to me: The electronic payments scene can’t get the Durbin amendment or mobile payments off its mind.

Durbin: The animosity toward lowering debit interchange rates was acute from several speakers and many attendees. But Professor Todd Zywicki showed his distaste the best during his session.

“The Durbin amendment is so stupid,” he said. If the amendment passes as written, among the many “asinine” effects includes issuers raising fees and killing off reward programs, which, in turn, pushes some 1 million people out of the banking system, Zywicki said. Plus, changing debit interchange fees also opens the gate for merchants to start demanding that issuers drop credit card interchange fees, too, he cautioned the audience. Why? Because you can’t have price controls on one payment and not another payment — i.e. credit — that can serve as a debit substitute. 

Sen. Chistopher Dodd (D-Conn.), during his keynote, gave the audience some hope by saying he suspects the Federal Reserve will modify the debit interchange fee proposal. Still, he cautioned attendees that the interchange issue is complicated, and everyone should reach out to their local politicians to educate them.

Mobile payments: Mobile payments are finally happening — almost.

“Though we have talked about mobile payments at ETA for eight years; now it’s happening,” said Doug Dwyre, president of MocaPay, a payments venture.

The key to the takeoff of mobile payment will be convenience. “That’s what shifts consumer behavior,” said Will Graylin, president and chief execute of Roam Data.