Overview
- Visa and Mastercard outlined a deal to trim interchange by 0.1 percentage point for five years and cap standard consumer credit rates at 1.25% for eight years.
- The proposal would let merchants choose which card categories to accept—standard, premium, or commercial—and permit surcharges of up to about 3% on higher‑cost cards, subject to laws and network rules.
- The change could lead to some premium rewards cards being declined or carrying extra fees at checkout, with any real‑world effects depending on how merchants adopt the new options.
- Major merchant groups, including the National Retail Federation and the Merchant Payments Coalition, criticized the plan as offering insufficient relief and say broader reforms are still needed.
- The agreement covers only Visa and Mastercard credit cards, excludes debit and American Express, and remains pending review in the U.S. District Court after a prior settlement was rejected in 2024.