Details
Written by: RJ
A judge has given preliminary approval to the revised $38B Visa/Mastercard settlement with merchants.
U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan in Brooklyn, New York, said the settlement covering more than 12 million merchants was “fair, reasonable, and adequate,” and that he was likely to eventually grant final approval.
Also known as interchange fees, swipe fees totaled $118.8 billion for Visa and Mastercard in the United States in 2025, up from $111.2 billion in 2024 and $25.6 billion in 2009, the Merchants Payments Coalition said. The average fee was 2.36%.
Visa and Mastercard agreed to lower swipe fees by 0.1 percentage point for five years, while standard consumer rates would be lowered to no more than 1.25% for eight years.
Merchants could also choose whether to accept cards in distinct categories: commercial cards, premium consumer cards — including the popular rewards cards that dominate the card market — and standard consumer cards.
Thoughts
Still don’t see any wins for the consumer in this.
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