Visa

The merchant antitrust litigation began in 2005, grew to cover roughly 12 million merchants, and only reached a preliminarily approved settlement in June 2026 (final approval still pending) - more than twenty years. Judge Brodie rejected an earlier $30 billion deal in 2024, finding the roughly $6 billion in annual merchant savings 'paltry' relative to the roughly $100 billion merchants paid in Visa and Mastercard interchange fees in 2023. Merchants Payments Coalition figures put Visa and Mastercard swipe fees (credit and debit combined) at a record $111.2 billion in 2024, up from about $100 billion the year before. The revised settlement cuts the combined average effective credit interchange rate by 10 basis points for five years, caps standard consumer cards at 1.25% for eight years, and finally lets merchants decline categories of cards rather than obeying the honor-all-cards rule. Those fees are built into shelf prices, so every consumer pays them, including the ones paying cash.

• Severity
• Evidence tierUnassigned
• Claims confirmed
• Last verified2026-08-04

Case status. Private litigation; the legal tier of its sources has not been assigned yet.

Primary source. www.alston.com/en/insights/publications/2024/04/merchant-plaintiffs-reach-settlement — Verified - primary source confirmed.

Arbitration

MASSIVE, 21-YEAR ANTITRUST CASE (In re Payment Card Interchange Fee and Merchant Discount Antitrust Litigation, MDL 1720, filed 2005): merchants allege Visa/Mastercard/issuing banks conspired to FIX INTERCHANGE (swipe) FEES; a Nov 2025 proposed settlement (still pending final court approval as of mid-2026) would trim credit interchange rates by 10 basis points for 5 years, impose a capped 1.25% rate on standard consumer cards for 8 years, and give merchants new rights to surcharge and to accept different card categories (commercial/premium/standard) selectively — covering roughly 12 MILLION US MERCHANTS and aiming to end litigation dating to 2005. SEPARATELY, the DOJ filed its OWN civil antitrust suit against Visa specifically (S.D.N.Y., filed Sept 2024; Visa's motion to dismiss was denied in June 2025, and no settlement or judgment had been reported as of Oct 2026) alleging Visa illegally monopolized US DEBIT NETWORK markets in violation of the Sherman Act — a distinct, government-brought case running in parallel to the merchant-driven MDL. A separate $231.7 MILLION settlement (Oct 2025, B & R Supermarket v. Visa) resolved merchant claims over costs from counterfeit/lost/stolen card fraud, with Visa paying $119.7M and Mastercard paying $79.8M of that total (American Express and Discover paid the remaining $32.2M).

Contacts

Privacy contact. Not recorded.

Legal notice. PUBLIC COMPANY (V). Service route: c/o General Counsel / Corporate Secretary, San Francisco, California — the corporate address on the SEC Form 10-K cover page is the official address of record. Confirm the exact street address on the current 10-K at sec.gov/edgar, and check the state-of-incorporation registered agent (usually Delaware; most large filers use The Corporation Trust Company or Corporation Service Company) via the Secretary of State business-entity search. A registered agent MUST accept service, which is why it is the reliable channel when a company publishes no privacy address.

Mailing address. Not recorded.