After two decades of courtroom battles, Visa and Mastercard are offering a $38 billion settlement to resolve allegations that they conspired to overcharge merchants through credit card “swipe fees.”
Yet, despite the headline figure, many business groups argue the proposal fails to solve the problem at the heart of the dispute—how much it costs to accept a card payment in the United States, Reuters reported.
A Fresh Attempt to Satisfy the Court
The new settlement comes months after U.S. District Judge Margo Brodie rejected an earlier $30 billion agreement as inadequate. She called the proposed relief “paltry” compared to what Visa and Mastercard could continue to collect.
The card networks are now back with a revised offer, hoping to win approval and end one of the longest-running antitrust cases in U.S. payments history.
[#highlighted-links#]
Under the latest proposal, Visa and Mastercard would lower swipe fees—currently around 2% to 2.5%—by 0.1 percentage point for five years. Merchants could also opt out of accepting certain categories of cards, such as premium rewards cards or commercial cards, while standard consumer rates would be capped at 1.25% for eight years.
The companies say the deal would offer “meaningful relief” and greater flexibility for merchants. Neither Visa nor Mastercard admitted wrongdoing. Both firms’ shares remained steady in afternoon trading following the announcement.
Merchant groups were quick to reject the new deal. The National Retail Federation and the Merchants Payments Coalition said it still leaves businesses paying too much to process card payments.
Swipe fees, also known as interchange fees, totaled $111.2 billion in 2024, up from $100.8 billion the year before, according to the NRF. That’s four times higher than in 2009.
Promised Savings Versus Reality
Lawyers representing merchants said the $38 billion figure represents projected savings through 2031, calculated by Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz and another economist. They estimate the deal could save merchants more than $200 billion over its lifespan.
In contrast, the Electronic Payments Coalition, which includes large banks such as JPMorgan Chase, Citibank, and Bank of America, supports the agreement. Its Executive Chairman Richard Hunt said the settlement would lower fees beyond what’s proposed in a bipartisan Senate bill seeking to regulate card costs.
The court must still approve the new deal. If accepted, it would cap a 20-year dispute that reshaped the debate around how much merchants pay to accept card payments.