According to the WSJ Visa & Mastercard are close to a settlement for a 20 year long legal dispute regarding anticompetitive interchange fees and acceptance terms with merchants. Main points:
- If a merchant accepted one type of Visa (or Mastercard) they wouldn’t have to accept all Visa cards. This is important because different card types have different interchange fees. High rewards earning cards (e.g Visa Infinite) come with a premium interchange fee.
- Interchange fees would drop by an average of around 0.1 percentage point over several years
In 2024 two sides agreed to a deal that would lower interchange fees by 0.07 percent points on average over five years and more flexibility for charging customers extra when paying via credit card but this deal was rejected by the judge.
