Judge approves $38 billion Visa‑Mastercard settlement

A federal judge has granted preliminary approval to a revised $38 billion settlement between Visa, Mastercard, and millions of U.S. merchants, marking a pivotal step toward resolving a two-decade legal battle over credit card swipe fees. The ruling, issued by U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan in Brooklyn on June 9, 2026, allows the landmark antitrust agreement to move toward a final fairness hearing later this year.

The settlement stems from a class-action lawsuit originally filed in 2005, which accused the card networks and banks of conspiring to fix interchange fees at artificially high levels. The deal covers more than 12 million merchants and aims to provide them with both financial relief and greater operational flexibility. A previous $30 billion settlement was rejected by a different judge in June 2024 for being insufficient.

Under the proposed terms, Visa and Mastercard will lower credit card swipe fees by 0.1 percentage points on average for five years and cap standard consumer card rates at 1.25% for eight years. The agreement also introduces significant structural changes, most notably modifying the longstanding "Honor All Cards" rule. Merchants will gain the ability to...