Visa and Mastercard reach $30bn interchange fee settlement with merchants.
In brief:
- After nearly 20 years of litigation, Visa and Mastercard have reached a settlement with US merchants lowering and capping credit card interchange rates in a deal that could save the merchants $30bn over five years.
- The settlement, one of the largest in US antitrust history, will reduce credit interchange fees and then cap those rates into 2030.
- The card firms have been battling merchants over swipe fees since 2005 and in 2012, Visa and Mastercard agreeing to pay up $7.25bn to retailers over claims they had improperly fixed credit and debit fees.
What does that mean?
Robert Eisler, co-lead counsel acting for merchants, says: "This settlement achieves our goal of eliminating anti-competitive restraints and providing immediate and meaningful savings to all US merchants, small and large."
Kim Lawrence, president, North America, Visa, adds: “By negotiating directly with merchants, we have reached a settlement with meaningful concessions that address true pain points small businesses have identified.”
