- ORIGINAL NEWS
Mastercard, Visa reach $30 billion settlement over credit card fees
- SUMMARY
In a landmark settlement, Visa and Mastercard have agreed to pay merchants an estimated $30 billion to resolve antitrust claims stemming from excessive credit and debit card fees.
For years, merchants have alleged that Visa and Mastercard inflated these fees and prevented them from steering customers towards cheaper payment methods.
The settlement addresses these concerns by reducing interchange rates by 0.04 percentage points for three years and capping them for five more.
Additionally, Visa and Mastercard will eliminate anti-steering provisions, giving merchants the freedom to offer incentives for alternative payment options.
The fee rollbacks and caps alone are valued at nearly $30 billion, benefiting predominantly small businesses.
Economists predict that this increased merchant freedom and competition will translate into lower prices for consumers.
A previous class-action settlement in March 2022 awarded $5.6 billion to merchants but did not address specific fee regulations or extend to all retailers.
This latest settlement comprehensively resolves these issues and is expected to bring significant savings to both merchants and consumers.
- NEWS SENTIMENT CHECK
- Overall sentiment:
positive
Positive
“The settlement is one of the largest in U.S. history, …”
“Visa estimated that small businesses comprise more than 90% of the settling merchants.”
“Merchants have long accused Visa and Mastercard of charging inflated swipe fees…”
“The fee rollbacks and caps alone are worth $29.79 billion…”
Negative
“Merchants have long accused Visa and Mastercard of charging inflated swipe fees..”
“They denied wrongdoing in agreeing to settle.”