Mastercard Commits to Lowering U.S. Interchange for Small Businesses and Broader Merchant Community
Class settlement ensures no increases for five years, maintains consumer protections and value; encourages strong, ongoing competition and innovation
The settlement, which also features a set of adjustments to Mastercard’s network rules, allows small businesses and all merchants to continue to benefit from accepting electronic payments while delivering consumers a simple and secure way to pay.
The agreement – agreed to by
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Interchange rate reduction – Payment networks, including
Mastercard , will reduce the published and effective interchange rate onU.S. -issued consumer credit and commercial credit transactions atU.S. merchant locations.
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Five-year rate cap – The interchange reduction will effectively serve as a cap for a period of five years and will apply to all
U.S. -issued credit programs, including new products required to be accepted under the Mastercard brand. The effort delivers merchants the certainty and visibility of their acceptance programs while supporting continued competition within the industry.
- Simplified surcharging and discounting rules – As part of the settlement agreement, the networks will activate a simplified approach to credit card transaction surcharging, providing merchants more optionality. These rules will maintain core consumer protections and transparency, replacing standards that had been updated in 2012.
“This agreement brings closure to a long-standing dispute by delivering substantial certainty and value to business owners, including flexibility in how they manage acceptance of card programs,” said
The settlement is subject to final approval by the
In agreeing to the settlement,
This agreement follows a prior settlement with a damages class. That litigation and the impact to
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Many factors and uncertainties relating to our operations and our business environment, all of which are difficult to predict and many of which are outside of our control, influence whether any forward-looking statements can or will be achieved. Any one of these factors could cause our actual results or the impact of the settlement agreement to differ materially from those expressed or implied in writing in any forward-looking statements made by
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investor.relations@mastercard.com
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Source: Mastercard Investor Relations