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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Merchants Say Reported Credit Card Swipe Fee Settlement Proposal ‘Fails Once Again and Should be Rejected’
MPC said a proposed settlement reportedly expected to be released soon in longstanding antitrust litigation over Visa and Mastercard’s credit card “swipe” fee practices fails to overcome U.S. District Judge Margo Brodie’s reasons for rejecting the last settlement and should also be rejected.
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MPC Hill Blast: Affordability
Affordability has been the talk of the town. You can read it here, here and here. The credit card industry is fighting against affordability as hard as it can.
READ MORE +MPC Hill Blast: 54,000 More Jobs
That is the number of jobs that would be created in just the first year if we finally had competition among credit card networks. You can read it here.
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Convenience Store News: Merchants Group Cites Big Bank Profits in Push for Swipe Fee Reform
Credit and debit card swipe fees boosting big bank profits underscore the need for congressional action on merchant processing costs, according to the Merchants Payments Coalition.
READ MORE +MPC Hill Blast: The Threat to Your Data? Visa Wins the Prize
Starting Oct. 17, Visa began hitting Main Street businesses that won’t give it “comprehensive” data on key transactions with extra swipe fees.
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Loss Prevention Magazine: Cash Visibility Standards: Powering Light in the Darkness
Over twenty US states have introduced legislation and dozens of American cities have enacted “cashless bans.” Combined with record swipe fees reported by the Merchants Payments Coalition for 2025, these factors help explain why cash in circulation has reached a record $2.4 trillion.
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The Street: T-Mobile restricts a beloved discount, angering customers
According to recent data from the Merchants Payments Coalition, swipe fees for Visa and Mastercard credit cards totaled $111.2 billion in 2024, up from $100 billion the year before. This is an increase of more than 10% in one year alone. “With no competition to hold them in check, price-fixed swipe fees rise every year and shot up again last year,” said Christine Pollack, Merchants Payments Coalition executive committee member, in a press release.
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MoneyWise: Some premium credit cards have hiked annual fees by 45% — make sure ‘fee creep’ isn’t quietly canceling your rewards
“Swipe fees,” the fees charged by card networks and big banks to process credit and debit transactions, totaled $187 billion in 2024, according to the Merchants Payments Coalition, an advocacy group representing retailers pushing for lower fees. “Because the fees are a percentage of the purchase amount, they automatically go up every time prices go up, even without an increase in rates,” says the coalition.
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Gifts and Decorative Accessories: Illinois Bans Swipe Fees on Sales Tax and Tips, But Banks are Battling It
“Banks are desperate to deny reality,” said Doug Kantor, Merchants Payments Coalition executive committee member and National Association of Convenience Stores general counsel. “They want the court to ignore the fact that banks don’t set swipe fees and that Visa and Mastercard do. Banks hide behind price-setting by those credit card giants — and now the credit card giants are trying to hide behind banks in court to overturn a sensible law. It is simply unfair for merchants to pay swipe fees on tax and tip money that they must give to the state or employees. The credit card giants should stop punishing merchants for providing a service to the state and employees.”
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