US retailers such as Target and Walmart are urging a federal judge to reject Visa and Mastercard's proposed class-action settlement, arguing that the credit and debit card fees agreement falls short of their expectations.
The companies expressed their opposition to the settlement in a series of filings on Friday in Brooklyn, New York, federal court against Visa and Mastercard's lawsuit since 2005, alleging that they artificially increased specific fees charged to merchants in transactions involving consumers' credit or debit cards.
The settlement with merchants, announced in March, aims to cap card fee rates for five years and grant sellers more control over offering discounts based on the use of specific cards. Currently, merchants are not permitted to guide customers toward using cards with lower fees.
The 2005 Lawsuit Settlement
Visa and Mastercard revealed a settlement with US merchants concerning swipe fees, which could result in tens of billions of dollars in consumer savings.
Swipe fees facilitate transactions, which are remitted to entities such as Visa, Mastercard, and other credit card firms. Subsequently, merchants transfer these charges to consumers utilizing credit or debit cards. Visa and Mastercard will limit the credit interchange fees until 2030, and companies are obligated to negotiate these fees with merchant groups as per the settlement.
The settlement comes from a 2005 lawsuit alleging merchants were charged excessive fees to accept Visa and Mastercard credit cards and that Visa, Mastercard, and their member banks violated antitrust laws. In 2018, Visa and Mastercard consented to pay Six point two billion dollars as a component of the enduring lawsuit initiated by a consortium of 19 merchants. However, the lawsuit had two remaining components to be addressed: a disagreement regarding the rules imposed by Visa and Mastercard for accepting their cards and the merchants who opted out of the settlement.
Mastercard did not admit to any wrongdoing in accepting the settlement, which will come into effect in late 2024 or early 2025 and would save merchants nearly thirty billion dollars, according to the lawyers for the plaintiffs.
US Retailers Rejecting The Proposed Settlement
The retailers' objections set the stage for what is anticipated to be a significant showdown regarding the fairness of the settlement, which necessitates court approval. The objectors expressed in their filings that Visa and Mastercard would have the opportunity to resume anticompetitive practices after a five-year pause. Some retailers described the supposed benefits of the agreement as "illusory."
In its filing, Walmart stated that small local merchants had sacrificed the interests of large national merchants for worthless relief to the members with the most at stake in this litigation.
Target contended that the proposed settlement would cover a naked price-fixing agreement between Visa and Mastercard if approved.
A preliminary hearing on the settlement is set for June 13.
