Payments Dive: Visa, Mastercard reach legal pact with merchants
Big merchant trade groups, including the National Retail Federation and the Merchant Payments Coalition, criticized the settlement as unsatisfactory. “This is a bad deal,” said Doug Kantor, who is general counsel for the National Association of Convenience Stores as well as an executive committee member for the Merchants Payments Coalition. “It’s not much different than the deal last year that the judge threw out,” he said in a Monday interview. Kantor contended that many standard, non-premium cards already have interchange rates lower than the 1.25% cap. Generally, the card networks will still be able to revise their fees to offset any reductions dictated by the agreement, he said. Overall, he argued that the banks still won’t have sufficient incentive to compete in the credit card marketplace under the new settlement.
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Progressive Grocer: Visa, Mastercard Offer Revised Swipe Fee Settlement
“Achieving a settlement that works to reverse current illegal and anticompetitive practices of Visa and Mastercard should be straightforward, but this attempt fails once again and should be rejected,” noted Jennifer Hatcher, executive committee member of the Merchants Payments Coalition and chief public policy officer at Arlington, Va.-based FMI — the Food Industry Association. “The courts have emphatically rejected these settlements twice, but now the card industry is trying again to get legal protection while offering little in return to merchants. Under this proposal, Visa and Mastercard would get to keep fixing swipe fees while Main Street businesses and customers would pay the price.”
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Supermarket News: Retailers oppose latest interchange fee settlement offer
“Achieving a settlement that works to reverse current illegal and anticompetitive practices of Visa and Mastercard should be straightforward, but this attempt fails once again and should be rejected,” said Jennifer Hatcher, chief public policy officer at FMI—the Food Industry Association and a member of the executive committee at the Merchant Payments Coalition.
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CSP Daily News: Retailers oppose latest interchange fee settlement offer
“Achieving a settlement that works to reverse current illegal and anticompetitive practices of Visa and Mastercard should be straightforward, but this attempt fails once again and should be rejected,” said Jennifer Hatcher, chief public policy officer at FMI—the Food Industry Association and a member of the executive committee at the Merchant Payments Coalition.
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Harlem World: Visa And Mastercard Settle Swipe Fee Lawsuit
The Merchants Payments Coalition criticized the fee reduction as “minimal,” noting that Visa and Mastercard could still raise fees without limitation once temporary reductions expire. The group also argued that merchants have “no choice” but to accept rewards cards, which constitute 85% of all issued cards.
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Convenience Store News: Retailers Oppose Reported Visa & Mastercard Settlement
According to the MPC, the newly proposed settlement fails to overcome Judge Brodie's reasons for rejecting the last settlement and should therefore also be rejected. "Achieving a settlement that works to reverse current illegal and anticompetitive practices of Visa and Mastercard should be straightforward but this attempt fails once again and should be rejected," MPC Executive Committee member and FMI — the Food Industry Association Chief Public Policy Officer Jennifer Hatcher said. "The courts have emphatically rejected these settlements twice but now the card industry is trying again to get legal protection while offering little in return to merchants. Under this proposal, Visa and Mastercard would get to keep fixing swipe fees while Main Street businesses and customers would pay the price. "It is now clearer than ever that Congress needs to pass the Credit Card Competition Act to fix our nation's broken payments system," Hatcher continued. "Small businesses and American consumers can't afford to keep paying cartel fees on cards that drive up prices by billions of dollars a year."
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PYMNTS/CPI: Visa and Mastercard Reach Landmark Settlement to End Longstanding Fee Dispute
The MPC has expressed opposition to the deal, contending that Visa and Mastercard’s fee reductions are insufficient. Jennifer Hatcher, a member of the coalition’s executive committee, said that the proposed cuts apply only to the portion of fees passed to banks, allowing the card networks themselves to potentially raise their own charges. Hatcher warned that “all of the supposed merchant and consumer savings could easily be canceled by Visa and Mastercard increasing their fees.”
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PYMNTS: SMBs Stand to Gain From Visa and Mastercard ‘Swipe Fees’ Settlement
The Merchants Payments Coalition called fee reduction “minuscule,” and said Visa and Mastercard would be free to raise fees without restrictions after temporary cuts expired. It also said merchants had “no choice” but to accept rewards cards, which make up 85% of all cards issued, and banks could still move cards into different categories, essentially requiring merchants to accept all cards.
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Punchbowl News: Senate Ag Moves on Crypto, Plus Credit Card Wars
"The card industry is trying again to get legal protection while offering little in return to merchants," said Jennifer Hatcher, who serves on the executive committee of the Merchants Payments Coalition.
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Hoodline: Honolulu Shops Brace For Swipe-Fee Shakeup As Visa, Mastercard Pitch $38B Deal
Retail trade groups didn’t mince words. The National Retail Federation labeled the draft agreement “all window dressing and no substance” and urged Judge Margo Brodie to reject it, arguing a tiny basis‑point trim won’t fix systems that let banks centrally set fees, per an NRF press release. The Merchants Payments Coalition and small‑business advocates also warned that because most consumer cards are rewards cards, merchants may have limited ability to steer customers toward cheaper options.
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