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☆ Federal judge rejects $30 billion settlement between Visa, Mastercard and retailers
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-25 | by ( Elisabeth Buchwald | Parija Kavilanz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN —A federal judge overseeing a $30 billion preliminary swipe-fees settlement between Mastercard, Visa and retailers formally rejected the deal Tuesday. Mastercard and Visa, two of the world’s largest credit card networks, reached their proposed multi-billion antitrust settlement with US merchants in March. But a memo released by the court on Tuesday said that she was “not likely to grant final approval” to the preliminary settlement absent any changes. The proposed settlement would have lowered those fees by at least 0.04% percentage points for a minimum of three years. What the preliminary settlement entailedThe proposed settlement, which hinged on final approval from the Eastern District of New York, resulted from a longstanding antitrust class-action lawsuit in 2005.

Persons: Judge Margo Brodie, “, colluded, —, Christopher Jones, ”, ” Jones, Tuesday’s, Judge Brodie, RILA Organizations: New, New York CNN, Mastercard, Visa, Court, of, Merchants Payments Coalition, Main, Retail Industry, Association, Target, Dollar Locations: New York, Eastern, of New York

☆ Credit Card Companies Are About to Invent New Fees for Consumers
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-07 | by ( Emily Stewart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Some of those annoying fees on your credit card may soon be getting smaller. Banks and credit-card companies are almost certainly trying to figure out where else they squeeze money out of you. The response to the interchange-fee settlement has been a bit more muted: The Electronic Payments Coalition, which represents Visa, Mastercard, and other credit-card companies, said it was OK with the swipe-fees cap. Taken together, it's clear that many companies in the credit-card business would rather not be dealing with this situation. According to the Merchants Payments Coalition, Mastercard is now planning to increase different credit card fees soon, it's "network assessment" fee.

Persons: Banks, Matt Schulz, JPMorgan Chase, Mark Elliot, Doug Kantor, Mark Mason, Rich Fairbank, We've, it's, Ira Rheingold, Amanda Jackson, Emily Stewart Organizations: Consumer Financial, Mastercard, Visa, Bank Policy Institute, Electronic Payments Coalition, UBS, JPMorgan, American Express, National Association of Convenience Stores, Merchants Payments Coalition, Capital, JPMorgan Chase, National Association of Consumer, Companies, Financial Reform, Business

The Credit Card Competition Act was reintroduced last month in both the House and the Senate, after not being brought up for a vote in either chamber during the previous Congress. Retailers in support of the legislation argue credit card processing costs are hurting consumers by driving up the cost of business, and, in turn, the price shoppers pay at checkout. On the other side of the fight, major credit card processing networks like Visa , Mastercard , Discover and Capital One say the bill will actually hurt consumers by diminishing popular credit card rewards programs and lessening fraud protections. Visa and Mastercard account for 80% of all credit card volume, according to data from the Nilson Report, a publication tracking the global payment industry. On average, U.S. credit card swipe fees account for 2.24% of a transaction, according to the Merchants Payments Coalition.

Persons: Doug Kantor, Sen, Dick Durbin, He's, Nilson, Durbin, Harley Finkelstein, Finkelstein Organizations: Visa Inc, Mastercard Inc, Visa, Mastercard, Kroger, Walmart, Discover, Merchants Payments Coalition, CNBC, Main, Electronic Payments Coalition Locations: Tiskilwa , Illinois, U.S, Washington, Shopify, Target, America

☆ This credit card fee could cost shoppers $3 billion during record-breaking back-to-school season, merchants say
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-20 | by ( Jessica Dickler | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

This year, consumers are spending more on back-to-school supplies — and coughing up more to cover a particular kind of credit card fee at the same time. Total back-to-school spending is expected to reach a record $41.5 billion with another $94 billion in college shopping, according to the National Retail Federation. Swipe fees — also known as interchange fees — have more than doubled over the past decade and jumped $22 billion to a record $160.7 billion last year. When the National Retail Federation first started tracking swipe fees collected by Visa and Mastercard in 2001, they amounted to roughly $20 billion. "They've made themselves an involuntary equity partner with every Main Street business," he added.

Persons: Doug Kantor, —, Kantor, They've Organizations: National Retail Federation, Visa, Mastercard, Merchants Payments Coalition, Finance, National Association of Convenience Stores, Bankers

"We have a nice little sign in front of our register that says 'Hey, credit card fees, they cost us a lot of money,'" Victor Garcia, longtime owner of Sol Dias, told CNBC. CNBC | Cait FredaThe swipe fees aren't new, but the worsening problem comes at a time when Main Street businesses across the country are increasingly struggling with changing macroeconomic conditions. Although the central bank does not conduct the same survey for credit card transactions, the processes used for debit and credit cards are similar. Meanwhile, credit card fees amount to the third-highest operating expense on average for restaurants, according to the Texas Restaurant Association. The European Union cracked down on similar increases, capping fees in 2015 at 0.2% for debit card purchases and 0.3% for credit card purchases.

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