Nov. 10 at 8:27 PM
Visa and Mastercard reached a proposed settlement to end a 20-year legal battle with U.S. merchants over credit-card interchange fees. The deal, which still requires court approval, would cut merchant fees by 0.1 percentage point for five years and allow stores to reject certain credit cards—a potential shift from the long-standing “honor-all-cards” rule.
The move could reshape rewards programs, as lower interchange fees may pressure banks to scale back cash-back and travel perks. In 2023, U.S. issuers collected about
$72 billion in interchange fees, much of it from rewards cards that charge higher rates to merchants.
Analysts see minimal impact on Visa and Mastercard’s profitability, calling the outcome “a manageable surprise.”
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