Interchange Federal Court Settlement Visa/Mastercard Merchant

Payments Coalition Urges Sign-On to Letter Opposing Proposed

 

Our partners with the Merchants Payment Coalition (MPC), the National Retail Federation (NRF), and the Food Marketing Institute (FMI), are urging sellers to sign onto the letter at the link below to object to the proposed settlement in MDL-1720 and ask the court to reject its final approval.  RAM has signed on to the letter, and we urge our members to consider signing on as well.  The proposed settlement, which was preliminarily approved in June, offers inadequate merchant concessions, fails to address the core competition issues of the interchange system and limits merchants’ future legal avenues to challenge these fees.
 
Strong merchant opposition to the proposed settlement is an important message to the court, which has previously questioned whether objections from merchant groups are truly representative of the 12-million merchant class or are the complaints of a “vocal minority”. The industry goal is to illustrate to the court unified opposition with a strong industry objection letter. We are asking you to add your company’s name to the letter by COB September 1, 2026. You can read and sign the letter here.
 
As a reminder, the proposed settlement offers a reduction to the average Visa and Mastercard credit card interchange rates by 10 basis points for a period of five years, a temporary interchange rate cap of 1.25% for eight years for “standard” consumer credit cards, loosened surcharge restrictions and a relaxation of the “Honor All Cards” rule. The proposal does not prevent the networks from raising other fees to recoup any lost interchange revenue, does not challenge the networks’ anticompetitive business practices and strips merchants of the ability to challenge the networks fees and rules in the future.
 
Thanks to our partners at MPC, NRF and FMI for their leadership on this effort, as well as efforts to pass to pass the Credit Card Competition Act (CCCA) through Congress.  If you have any questions, please contact Dylan Jeon or Ceara Flake of NRF; or Christine Pollack of FMI at [email protected].

 

Overview:

Payments Dive: Court approves Visa-Mastercard settlement – June 9, 2026
Reuters: Visa, Mastercard $38 billion swipe fee settlement wins US judge's approval – June 9, 2026
 

• The Merchants Payments Coalition (MPC) strongly oppose the proposed settlement and filed statements of objections with the court in December.

MPC: Preliminary Court Ruling on Visa/Mastercard Swipe Fees is Bad Deal for Merchants and Consumers – June 9, 2026 Overview:

• On June 9, Judge Brian Cogan of the U.S. District Court Eastern District of New York preliminarily approved the third version of a proposed settlement in a 20-year-old interchange fee B2 injunctive case (MDL 1720) against Visa and Mastercard and nation’s largest banks that issue those branded credit cards. As a mandatory class B2 injunctive case, MDL 1720 pertains to the rules behind Visa and Mastercard branded cards and does not award monetary damages to any party (this is not a B3 monetary damages case). Any merchant, business, organization, or entity, that accepts Visa and Mastercard branded cards is included, cannot request to leave the class, and is subject to the terms of any settlement approved by the federal judge in the case.
• The class counsel designated for merchants did not need merchants’ approval to negotiate a settlement. A previously proposed settlement was issued on March 26, 2024, which was denounced by the Merchants Payments Coalition, and subsequently rejected by a federal judge on June 13, 2024 (and formally filed on June 25, 2024).
• On June 15, the court released Judge Cogan’s order on the schedule of proceedings. The court will accept statements of objections for the 90-day period from the judge’s signing of the order until approximately September 11. The judge also set a settlement hearing for 11:00 a.m. on November 16 in Brooklyn.

 
Proposed settlement
Preliminary approval decision

• Schedule of proceedings
• MPC: Merchants Say Reported Credit Card Swipe Fee Settlement Proposal ‘Fails Once Again and Should be Rejected’ – November 9, 2025
• MPC has developed a summary document of key points that explains why the proposed settlement is inadequate. This document is used to counter the narrative on Capitol Hill that Visa, Mastercard, and the banks have been portraying that this third version of a settlement is a way to solve merchants’ issues with swipe fees and nullifies the need to enact the Credit Card Competition Act (CCCA). MPC and others strongly object to this narrative and the inadequacy of this proposed settlement is ever more reason why CCCA must be enacted.

MA Division of Insurance to Hold Small Business Health Insurance Listening Sessions

 

RAM is looking for members—small and large--willing to testify virtually before the Massachusetts Division of Insurance about the unaffordable, annual premium increases we continue to see in the Commonwealth.  These double-digit premium annual increases are making our small businesses less competitive financially, as well as for workforce recruitment and retention, as the cost of plans keep going up far faster than the economy.  The unaffordable premium increases, as well as uncontrolled state tax expenditure growth for healthcare, are resulting in real reductions for our employees of take-home pay and family disposable incomes.  Following are the hearings this fall.  Monday, October 19; Monday, November 2; and Thursday, November 5; all at 10:00am.

If you are interested in providing oral or written comments for these important hearings, please contact our VP & General Counsel Ryan Kearney for more information and messaging assistance.  You can email Ryan at [email protected].  Thank you for your consideration.