US credit card deal

Visa Inc, MasterCard Inc and banks that issue credit cards have agreed to a $7.25-billion settlement with US retailers in a lawsuit over the fixing of credit and debit card fees in what could be the largest antitrust settlement in US history.

The settlement, if approved by a judge, will resolve dozens of lawsuits filed by retailers in 2005. The card companies and banks will also allow stores to start charging customers extra for using certain credit cards in an effort to steer them towards cheaper forms of payment.

Swipe fees charges to cover processing credit and debit payments are set by the card companies and deducted from the transaction by the banks that issue the cards, essentially passing on the cost to merchants, the lawsuits said.

The proposed settlement involves a payment to a class of stores of $6 billion from Visa, MasterCard and more than a dozen of the country’s largest banks who issue the companies’ cards. The card companies have also agreed to reduce swipe fees by the equivalent of 10 basis points for eight months for a total consideration to stores valued at about $1.2 billion, according to lawyers for the plaintiffs.

The deal calls for merchants to be allowed to negotiate collectively over the swipe fees, also known as interchange fees.

Merchants will also be required to disclose information about card fees to customers, and credit card surcharges will be subject to a cap, according to the settlement papers. Surcharge rules will not affect the 10 states that currently prohibit that practice, which include California, New York and Texas.

An additional $525 million will be paid to stores suing individually, according to the documents.