Digital Transactions: Here’s What’s Inside the Latest Offer to End the Long-Running Legal Battle Over Merchant Fees
“There is a wall blocking merchants from a competitive market, and while the agreement pokes some holes in the wall, the wall is still there,” says Doug Kantor, a Merchants Payments Coalition executive committee member and general counsel for the National Association of Convenience Stores.
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Bloomberg Law: Visa, Mastercard to Cut Fees, Let Retailers Reject Certain Cards
Trade groups such as the Merchants Payments Coalition came out against the proposed settlement, arguing that premium cards like the Sapphire Reserve have become so popular in recent years that it would be impossible not to accept them. ... As part of their opposition to the deal, the Merchants Payments Coalition said that Visa and Mastercard only agreed to limit the portion of the fees that they pass on to lenders — not the fees they keep for themselves. “The minuscule reduction proposed in the settlement on bank fees could still allow Visa and Mastercard to be able to raise their own fees without any limits,” said Jennifer Hatcher, an executive committee member for the MPC. “All of the supposed merchant and consumer savings could easily be canceled by Visa and Mastercard increasing their fees.”
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Credit Unions Today: Major Card Networks’ New Deal With Merchants May Undercut Marshall-Durbin Momentum
Merchant groups are already pushing back, arguing the updated deal still fails to resolve the concerns raised by U.S. District Judge Margo Brodie of Brooklyn, whose approval is required after she rejected the previous accord in June 2024. ... These groups, including the National Retail Federation and the Merchants Payments Coalition, say businesses would still pay too much, including to accept the popular rewards cards that dominate the card market.
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Reuters: Visa, Mastercard reach $38 billion swipe fee settlement, draw opposition
Doug Kantor, general counsel of the National Association of Convenience Stores, countered that the settlement doesn't give banks an incentive to lower rates they charge, but lets Visa and Mastercard "without any limitation" raise their own. "Merchants ought to be able to negotiate and get prices set with different banks, but this settlement prohibits that," Kantor, also a member of the Merchants Payments Coalition's executive committee, said in an interview.
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Financial Times: Visa and Mastercard forge deal to end long-term dispute with merchants
Some major trade bodies including the National Retail Federation and the Merchants Payments Coalition criticised the proposed settlement, saying it does not go far enough to address their concerns over swipe fees. ... Both groups said they were pushing for Congress to pass the Credit Card Competition Act, which the Merchants Payments Coalition estimates will save merchants $17bn a year by making it easier for large banks to process credit card payments on alternative card networks.
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MPC Hill Blast: Asking for Strike 3
The credit card giants have tried multiple times to pull a fast one on Main Street by negotiating antitrust litigation settlements that allow them to continue their anticompetitive practices with legal immunity. According to the Wall Street Journal, they are at it again.
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Convenience Store News: Retailers Oppose Reported Visa & Mastercard Settlement
According to the MPC, the newly proposed settlement fails to overcome Judge Brodie's reasons for rejecting the last settlement and should therefore also be rejected. "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," MPC Executive Committee member and FMI — the Food Industry Association Chief Public Policy Officer Jennifer Hatcher said. "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. "It is now clearer than ever that Congress needs to pass the Credit Card Competition Act to fix our nation's broken payments system," Hatcher continued. "Small businesses and American consumers can't afford to keep paying cartel fees on cards that drive up prices by billions of dollars a year."
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PYMNTS: SMBs Stand to Gain From Visa and Mastercard ‘Swipe Fees’ Settlement
The Merchants Payments Coalition called fee reduction “minuscule,” and said Visa and Mastercard would be free to raise fees without restrictions after temporary cuts expired. It also said merchants had “no choice” but to accept rewards cards, which make up 85% of all cards issued, and banks could still move cards into different categories, essentially requiring merchants to accept all cards.
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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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CSP Daily News: Retailers oppose latest interchange fee settlement offer
“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,” said Jennifer Hatcher, chief public policy officer at FMI—the Food Industry Association and a member of the executive committee at the Merchant Payments Coalition.
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