Visa and Mastercard have filed a revised settlement proposal to end two decades of litigation with merchants. The proposal follows Judge Margo Brodie’s earlier rejection of a similar agreement in 2024.
The new proposal was reached with the assistance of an independent mediator. According to Mastercard’s SEC filing, the companies seek “to provide merchants clarity and certainty in several areas related to their acceptance of payment cards.”
Key elements of the revised proposal include expanded acceptance flexibility, simplified surcharging rules, a system-wide interchange effective rate reduction of 0.10%, and a five-year cap on standard consumer card rates. For comparison, the prior version proposed an interchange reduction of just 0.04%. Beyond the cap, Visa and Mastercard have agreed to maintain the revised rule changes for at least eight years.
If approved, the settlement would formalize several network rule changes that could influence acquirer pricing models, merchant agreements, and surcharging strategies over the next decade. Implementation may also require technical updates to enable BIN-level acceptance controls tied to the proposed relaxation of “honor all cards” rules. However, the long-term financial impact on merchants remains uncertain, particularly given the temporary nature of the rate reductions.
For PSPs, ongoing visibility into interchange movement and effective rates will be critical. TSG’s AIM platform provides real-time benchmarking and portfolio analytics that can help stakeholders monitor cost changes, assess downstream impacts on merchant pricing, and identify where margin pressure is emerging. Get started today with a free AIM trial, or contact us to walk through the platform.
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