NEW YORK \u2014 November 10, 2025.<\/strong> The proposed deal, filed Monday in federal court in Brooklyn, would resolve 20 years of litigation<\/strong> in which merchants accused the two card giants and major banks of conspiring to inflate interchange fees<\/strong> \u2014 the charges businesses pay every time customers use their credit cards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Under the new settlement, Visa and Mastercard would reduce swipe fees by 0.1 percentage point<\/strong> for five years<\/strong>, bringing typical rates down to 1.9%\u20132.4%<\/strong>, while standard consumer card fees would be capped at 1.25% for eight years<\/strong> \u2014 a 25% reduction<\/strong>. The companies also agreed to give merchants greater flexibility<\/strong> to impose surcharges and to choose whether to accept specific card categories, such as premium rewards or commercial cards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite the concessions, major trade associations \u2014 including the National Retail Federation (NRF)<\/strong> and the Merchants Payments Coalition<\/strong> \u2014 say the deal fails to address the core issues<\/strong> that led Judge Margo Brodie<\/strong> to reject the earlier agreement in June 2024<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou can\u2019t just tell more than 80% of your card customers you\u2019re not going to take their cards,\u201d said Stephanie Martz<\/strong>, general counsel for the NRF. \u201cYou would lose a lot of business.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Swipe fees \u2014 also known as interchange fees \u2014 totaled $111.2 billion in 2024<\/strong>, up from $100.8 billion in 2023<\/strong>, and have quadrupled since 2009<\/strong>, according to the NRF.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Visa, headquartered in San Francisco<\/strong>, said the new settlement provides merchants \u201cof all sizes\u201d with meaningful relief and flexibility<\/strong>. Mastercard, based in Purchase, New York<\/strong>, said smaller businesses would benefit the most from lower costs and simpler rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Neither company admitted wrongdoing. Their shares rose less than 1%<\/strong> in early trading Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The previous $30 billion deal<\/strong> would have lowered fees by just 0.07 percentage points<\/strong> and saved merchants about $6 billion annually<\/strong>, a sum Judge Brodie described as \u201cpaltry\u201d compared to Visa and Mastercard\u2019s overall profits. She also criticized the agreement for keeping the controversial \u201cHonor All Cards\u201d rule<\/strong>, which forces merchants to accept all Visa and Mastercard products or none at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Industry groups remain divided: the Electronic Payments Coalition<\/strong>, which includes major banks like Chase<\/strong>, Citibank<\/strong>, Capital One<\/strong>, and Bank of America<\/strong>, supports the new deal, arguing it would lower fees more effectively than pending Senate legislation sponsored by Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.)<\/strong> and Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou tell me the last time Walmart reduced any of its prices by more than 25%, and kept it for eight years,\u201d said Richard Hunt<\/strong>, the coalition\u2019s executive chairman.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Opponents, however, say the settlement still limits merchant negotiation power<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis deal doesn\u2019t give banks an incentive to lower rates,\u201d said Doug Kantor<\/strong>, general counsel of the National Association of Convenience Stores. \u201cIt lets Visa and Mastercard raise their own, without limitation.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Judge Brodie must approve the agreement before it takes effect.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The revised agreement aims to end two decades of litigation over credit card \u201cswipe fees,\u201d but retailers say it still doesn\u2019t go far enough. NEW YORK \u2014 November 10, 2025.Visa and Mastercard have agreed to a revised settlement with U.S. merchants in a landmark antitrust case over credit card \u201cswipe fees,\u201d after a federal judge […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2560,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[525,524,522,521,519,520,523,63,518],"class_list":["post-2559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-antitrust-lawsuit","tag-credit-card-fees","tag-interchange-rates","tag-judge-margo-brodie","tag-mastercard","tag-merchants-settlement","tag-swipe-fees","tag-u-s","tag-visa"],"yoast_head":"\n
Visa<\/strong> and Mastercard<\/strong> have agreed to a revised settlement<\/strong> with U.S. merchants in a landmark antitrust case<\/strong> over credit card \u201cswipe fees,\u201d after a federal judge rejected an earlier $30 billion accord<\/strong> last year as insufficient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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