Total Retail: Visa, Mastercard Reach New Swipe Fee Settlement With Merchants; Opposition Voiced
In addition to the NRF, the Merchants Payments Coalition as well as the National Grocers Association argued that businesses would still pay too much in "swipe fees" to accept the popular credit cards that dominate the market. To provide context to the scale of this issue, swipe fees totaled $111.2 billion in the United States in 2024, up from $100.8 billion in 2023.
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Retail Systems: Visa and Mastercard agree revised settlement to cut interchange fees and loosen card acceptance rules
Doug Kantor of the National Association of Convenience Stores (and MPX) said the deal lets Visa and Mastercard raise fees they control, adding: “Merchants ought to be able to negotiate and get prices set with different banks, but this settlement prohibits that.”
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The Paypers: Visa and Mastercard revise USD 38 billion swipe-fee settlement
With this new accord, merchants, including the NRF and the Merchants Payments Coalition, (voiced) opposition, saying that the concerns raised by the New York judge regarding violating US law are still not addressed. Additionally, those who oppose say that businesses will still be paying too much to accept the popular reward cards that dominate the card market.
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Digital Transactions: Here’s What’s Inside the Latest Offer to End the Long-Running Legal Battle Over Merchant Fees
“There is a wall blocking merchants from a competitive market, and while the agreement pokes some holes in the wall, the wall is still there,” says Doug Kantor, a Merchants Payments Coalition executive committee member and general counsel for the National Association of Convenience Stores.
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Global Data/Yahoo Finance: Visa, Mastercard agree to $38bn settlement over merchant fee dispute
Retail trade group in the US, National Retail Federation and the Merchants Payments Coalition have voiced that the agreement still leaves businesses paying disproportionately high charges, particularly on widely used rewards cards.
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Finance Feeds: Visa, Mastercard Agree to $38 Billion Swipe-Fee Settlement After Judge’s Rejection
Merchant groups remain unconvinced. The National Retail Federation and the Merchants Payments Coalition said the proposal still leaves swipe fees too high, especially on rewards cards that dominate consumer spending. “You can’t just suddenly tell more than 80% of your card customers you’re not going to take their cards,” said NRF general counsel Stephanie Martz. “You would lose a lot of business.” Doug Kantor, general counsel of the National Association of Convenience Stores, said the deal lets Visa and Mastercard raise their own rates “without any limitation” and doesn’t allow merchants to negotiate directly with banks. “Merchants ought to be able to negotiate and get prices set with different banks, but this settlement prohibits that,” he said. (Martz and Kantor are both members of the MPC Executive Committee.)
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Court Cast: Visa and Mastercard Unveil $38 Billion Deal to End Swipe Fee War — But Retailers Aren’t Buying It
Merchant groups, led by the National Retail Federation and the Merchants Payments Coalition, are already calling foul, saying the proposal fails to fix the fundamental imbalance that has allowed the two payment giants to dominate the market for years. “You can’t just tell 80% of your card customers you won’t take their cards — that’s business suicide,” one retail representative said, summing up the frustration.
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Bloomberg Law: Visa, Mastercard to Cut Fees, Let Retailers Reject Certain Cards
Trade groups such as the Merchants Payments Coalition came out against the proposed settlement, arguing that premium cards like the Sapphire Reserve have become so popular in recent years that it would be impossible not to accept them. ... As part of their opposition to the deal, the Merchants Payments Coalition said that Visa and Mastercard only agreed to limit the portion of the fees that they pass on to lenders — not the fees they keep for themselves. “The minuscule reduction proposed in the settlement on bank fees could still allow Visa and Mastercard to be able to raise their own fees without any limits,” said Jennifer Hatcher, an executive committee member for the MPC. “All of the supposed merchant and consumer savings could easily be canceled by Visa and Mastercard increasing their fees.”
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Credit Unions Today: Major Card Networks’ New Deal With Merchants May Undercut Marshall-Durbin Momentum
Merchant groups are already pushing back, arguing the updated deal still fails to resolve the concerns raised by U.S. District Judge Margo Brodie of Brooklyn, whose approval is required after she rejected the previous accord in June 2024. ... These groups, including the National Retail Federation and the Merchants Payments Coalition, say businesses would still pay too much, including to accept the popular rewards cards that dominate the card market.
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Reuters: Visa, Mastercard reach $38 billion swipe fee settlement, draw opposition
Doug Kantor, general counsel of the National Association of Convenience Stores, countered that the settlement doesn't give banks an incentive to lower rates they charge, but lets Visa and Mastercard "without any limitation" raise their own. "Merchants ought to be able to negotiate and get prices set with different banks, but this settlement prohibits that," Kantor, also a member of the Merchants Payments Coalition's executive committee, said in an interview.
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