Nearly 1,000 Merchants Tell Judge Proposed Settlement of Visa/Mastercard Lawsuit is ‘Riddled With Loopholes’

# Nearly 1,000 Merchants Tell Judge Proposed Settlement of Visa/Mastercard Lawsuit is ‘Riddled With Loopholes’

> Evidence tier: B2
> Evidence type: Merchant Payments Coalition advocacy release linked to its merchant objection letter
> Source: [Merchant Payments Coalition](https://merchantspaymentscoalition.com/nearly-1000-merchants-tell-judge-proposed-settlement-visamastercard-lawsuit-riddled-loopholes)
> Published: 2026-09-14
> Captured: 2026-09-14T12:57:42.937Z

## Source summary

The Merchant Payments Coalition says 978 businesses and trade associations signed a September 10 objection asking a federal judge to reject the proposed settlement of a 2005 lawsuit over Visa and Mastercard credit-card swipe fees. MPC says the proposal would reduce interchange by 0.1 percentage point for five years, cap qualifying standard-card fees at 1.25% and allow surcharges up to 3%, while leaving loopholes around premium cards, network fees and future claims. The court has given preliminary approval; final approval remains pending.

## Why it matters

The settlement could affect U.S. merchant acceptance rules, routing choices and card-payment costs, but this release records an objection rather than a court decision or rule change. MPC represents merchants and uses advocacy language; its claims about anticompetitive conduct, consumer-price effects and industry savings are not findings by the court. The article does not establish cross-border scope, and the final terms may change or be rejected.

## Key numbers

- **Businesses and trade associations signing the objection:** 978
- **Proposed interchange reduction:** 0.1 percentage point for 5 years
- **Proposed cap for qualifying standard cards:** 1.25%
- **Proposed maximum surcharge:** 3%

## Topics and entities

- Industry lane: Payment infrastructure
- Entities: Merchant Payments Coalition / Visa / Mastercard
- Payment infrastructure
- Company intelligence

## Evidence and credibility note

Merchant advocacy release linked to the underlying objection letter. Signer counts and proposed terms are traceable, but MPC's characterizations and projected effects are interested-party claims; final court approval is pending.

Date evidence: Merchant Payments Coalition article metadata and the visible dateline both show September 14, 2026

## First-party corroboration

- [https://www.merchantspaymentscoalition.com/sites/default/files/2026-09/VisaMastercardObjection-2026-09-10.pdf](/en/items/https://www.merchantspaymentscoalition.com/sites/default/files/2026-09/VisaMastercardObjection-2026-09-10.pdf)

## Original-source traceback

[Open the original Merchant Payments Coalition report](https://merchantspaymentscoalition.com/nearly-1000-merchants-tell-judge-proposed-settlement-visamastercard-lawsuit-riddled-loopholes)

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This is a structured Payments Hot Markdown source summary derived from external reporting. Use the original link above to read the publisher's article; copyright remains with the original publisher.