Key takeaway: Merchants could soon decline or surcharge some premium and commercial cards. eCommerce teams should review card acceptance rules, checkout pricing and fee reporting before a ruling arrives.
U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan will hold the final approval hearing for the revised Visa and Mastercard interchange settlement on Monday, Nov. 16. The hearing will take place in federal court in Brooklyn, New York.
The settlement would cut credit interchange rates by 10 basis points for five years. It would also set a 1.25% rate for standard consumer cards for eight years. The settlement would let merchants decline some higher-cost premium and commercial credit cards, a change that departs from the networks’ honor-all-cards rule. Merchants would also gain new rights to add surcharges and to offer discounts that steer shoppers toward cheaper cards. Reuters valued the deal at $38 billion when Cogan granted preliminary approval in June.
Opposition remains broad. Walmart, the National Retail Federation and the Retail Industry Leaders Association have objected, along with several other large trade groups. In their October filing, Visa and Mastercard said the objections “merely reprise the same arguments this Court already considered and rejected.” They also described the objectors as “no more than a vocal minority objecting to the settlement.”
Why it matters: Card acceptance and pricing rules shape how merchants route payments, set checkout prices and judge the risk of higher-cost cards. If the court approves the settlement, payments and risk teams would need to decide which premium and commercial cards to decline or surcharge. They would also need to weigh how those choices affect conversion and dispute handling.
Source: Payments Dive with additional reporting from eCommerce Paradise