Judge Nixes $30-B Settlement Of Visa And Mastercard With Retailers

A federal judge has formally rejected a $30 billion preliminary swipe-fees settlement between Mastercard, Visa, and retailers.

Credit card processors will likely have to make more concessions to resolve their long-standing dispute with merchants.

The ruling, delivered by Judge Margo Brodie of the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York on Tuesday, means the credit card processors will likely have to make more concessions to resolve their long-standing dispute with merchants, Elisabeth Buchwald and Parija Kavilanz reported for CNN.

The proposed settlement, reached in March, aimed to lower swipe fees, or interchange fees, that retailers must pay when customers use their cards.

Retailers are typically charged 2% of the total transaction in swipe fees, but this can rise to 4% for premium rewards cards. The settlement would have reduced these fees by at least 0.04 percentage points for a minimum of three years.

The judge’s memo indicated she was “not likely to grant final approval” to the preliminary settlement without changes.