In issuing its bi-annual report on swipe fees as required by law, the Federal Reserve last week said it would keep the existing interchange fee standards and fraud prevention adjustments the same. The per-transaction cap remains at 21 cents and also allows for an additional charge of 0.01 cent to cover fraud as well as .05 percent of the sales amount.
03-11-2013 The U.S. Court of Appeals has ruled that an appeal of the proposed swipe fee settlement should wait until after objections to the settlement are filed and heard next fall. That means that settlement notices to retailers across the country can continue to be distributed, and that retailers will have the opportunity to opt out of the monetary portion of the case and/or object to the proposed settlement. Notices will be sent to retailers who accepted Visa and/or MasterCard at any time between Jan. 1, 2004 and Nov. 27, 2012. Even if retailers submitted a declaration objecting to the proposed settlement last fall, they must respond to the notice and submit something in writing again if they want to opt-out of or object to the proposed settlement.
02-11-2013 A federal appeals court panel has denied an appeal aimed at reversing preliminary approval of the $7.25 billion settlement of the antitrust case against Visa and Mastercard.
12-17-2012 To force merchants into an ‘agreement’ with Visa and MasterCard that leaves them worse off than without it — that just goes against all notions of fairness.
11-19-2012 Despite unprecedented opposition from merchants, on Friday a federal judge gave preliminary approval of a $7.2 billion settlement of litigation against Visa, MasterCard and several large banks.
11-12-2012