Mastercard and Visa will appear in court. Big billions in the background

Partners don’t want billions

Visa and Mastercard may have big problems. An American court rejected a request for a settlement worth USD 30 billion that payment card giants wanted to pay to their smaller partners for taking advantage of their position. to impose fees for using their cards. Additionally, both companies agreed in the settlement to maintain these fees at a specified level for the next few years.

The fight for the market continues

Many companies opposed the settlement, saying it was proposed by Visa and Mastercard fees are still too high and give these companies too much control over the card payment market in the US.

This refers to fees charged for card payments, both in stationary stores and online. They range between 1.5 and 3% of the transaction value. In 2023, total fees will amount to $72 billion in the United States alone.

The proposed settlement promised to reduce this value by 0.04% for the next three years and by 0.07% for the next 5 years.

Visa and Mastercard also announced that they would withdraw from actions against their competitors. Currently, sellers using the solutions of these companies are prohibited from providing details of transaction costs and cannot recommend other, cheaper payment solutions.

The proposed settlement did not solve the basic problem, which is the fact that Visa and Mastercard, together with banks, form a cartel that manages the rules for credit card payments. Their clients have no choice but to accept the conditions imposed in advance. The next step is probably a lawsuit.

said Doug Kantor, attorney for the National Association of Convenience Stores.

The court process is brick and mortar

This is not the first case of this type for Visa and Mastercard. In March 2023, companies paid $5.6 billion to another U.S. organization representing small sellers.

See: Payment cards are about to change. Here’s what you need to know