How the Visa Mastercard Settlement Could Change Your Card

You hand over your rewards card, and the cashier says, “We don’t take that card.” Under the proposed Visa Mastercard settlement, a US store could eventually refuse premium credit cards, charge extra for credit card payments and pay lower swipe fees.

The agreement was announced on November 10, 2025, and received preliminary approval on June 9, 2026. Your checkout experience does not change under this deal unless it receives final approval, with a hearing scheduled for November 16, 2026. Even then, implementation could take months or longer.

What the Settlement Actually Does

You see, the fee behind your card payment matters even if you never see it on your receipt. This agreement would reduce certain merchant costs and give businesses more control over which credit cards they accept. Here is how those changes could reach your wallet.

• A five-year rate reduction. Visa and Mastercard would lower their combined US average effective credit interchange rate by 10 basis points, or 0.10 percentage points, for five years. That is an average across covered transactions, so you should not read it as an identical reduction for every merchant or purchase.

• A standard-card fee cap. Standard consumer credit cards would carry an interchange ceiling of 1.25% for eight years. That figure concerns the fee behind a payment, rather than the interest rate on your credit card balance. Lower merchant fees do not guarantee that you will pay less for your shopping.

• More choice over accepted cards. Merchants could decide whether to accept commercial, premium consumer and standard consumer credit cards, with different choices for Visa and Mastercard. Your Chase Sapphire Reserve could therefore be refused somewhere that still accepts a standard consumer card. The permission concerns categories, rather than individual issuing banks.

• More room for surcharges. Businesses could charge extra on Visa and Mastercard credit payments, limited to the lower of 3% or their acceptance cost. Debit cards are excluded from this permission. State law and network rules would still matter, so you should not assume every shop could charge the full amount.

• American Express stays outside. Your Amex card is not covered by this settlement. The agreement would, however, give merchants more freedom to surcharge Visa or Mastercard without applying the same treatment to another credit network.

How We Got Here

If you feel as though this dispute has been running for years, you are right. The case began in 2005, and an earlier agreement failed to get through court. To understand why your checkout experience still has not changed under this proposal, follow the key dates.

1. June 2005. Merchants brought claims in Brooklyn federal court alleging that Visa, Mastercard and banks had worked together unlawfully over swipe fees. The dispute concerns the charges behind your purchases and the payment acceptance rules businesses must follow.

1. June 2024. Judge Margo Brodie rejected an earlier agreement that promised merchants at least $30 billion in savings over five years. Her concerns included the requirement to accept all cards within a network, the rule relevant to whether your premium card gets accepted.

1. November 10, 2025. Visa and Mastercard announced a revised proposal with fee reductions and new merchant acceptance choices. If you have seen the $38 billion headline, that number refers to estimated interchange savings under this deal, rather than money being distributed to cardholders.

1. June 9, 2026. Judge Brian Cogan gave the revised agreement preliminary approval, allowing it to proceed toward a final decision. That was a step forward for the proposal, but it did not activate new checkout rules for your purchases.

1. October 14, 2026. Visa and Mastercard submitted a joint reply asking Cogan to approve the agreement despite merchant objections. You may see October 16 attached to coverage of that filing, but that was the article’s publication date.

1. November 16, 2026. The court is scheduled to hold its final approval hearing, the next date to watch if you carry a Visa or Mastercard. A ruling could arrive before year-end, but the hearing does not guarantee approval or an immediate change at the till.

What It Could Mean for Your Rewards Card

Your rewards card could become less convenient even if your bank leaves its benefits untouched. A merchant might refuse its category or charge you more to use it, while changes to rewards remain uncertain. Here are the three ways you could feel the difference.

Premium Cards Could Be Refused

Your Chase Sapphire Reserve could be declined by a shop that chooses to stop accepting premium consumer Visa cards. Visa Infinite and World Elite Mastercard products are among the premium cards that could face this treatment.

But permission does not mean every retailer will use it. KBW analyst Sanjay Sakhrani expects limited refusals because turning away popular cards could upset customers, while L.E.K. Consulting also considers widespread premium-card rejection unlikely in the near term.

Surcharges at Checkout

You could still use your preferred credit card and find that paying with it costs extra. The agreement would let merchants apply surcharges by network or card product, subject to the lower of 3% or their acceptance cost and applicable state rules.

That matters if you choose a card mainly for its rewards. An extra checkout charge could reduce the benefit you get from earning points, so the payment total deserves your attention alongside the rewards rate.

Rewards May Shrink

You should treat smaller rewards as a possibility, rather than an announced result. Lower interchange income could leave banks with less money to support card benefits, but widespread cuts have not been established.

L.E.K. Consulting suggests issuers could rely more on annual fees, co-brand funding or other revenue. For your wallet, the question is whether the rewards still justify what you pay to hold and use the card. If you are thinking about a card with simpler rewards, our look at the Venmo credit card explains how its cash back works.

Who Is Fighting the Deal and Why

You might expect merchants to welcome lower card fees, right? Yet Walmart and several retail groups argue that the agreement gives too much away for too little lasting relief. To understand the disagreement, look at what each side says merchants would gain or surrender.

• Walmart wants the court to reject it. On September 14, 2026, Walmart and roughly 1,000 merchants asked the court to deny final approval. Their complaint is that merchants would surrender legal claims in return for limited, temporary concessions. Walmart, Circle K and the National Association of Convenience Stores have also sought permission to leave the class.

• Retail groups want stronger competition. The National Retail Federation and Retail Industry Leaders Association argue that the agreement does too little to put competitive pressure on interchange charges. Merchants would gain category-level acceptance choices, but still could not pick individual issuing banks within a network. If you carry a popular premium card, objectors say refusing it may be commercially difficult anyway.

• Critics question how much merchants would save. The Merchants Payments Coalition argues that restrictions on interchange do not control the networks’ own fees. Its concern is that other charges could eat into the promised savings. That is another reason you cannot assume lower merchant costs will produce cheaper shopping.

• Visa and Mastercard defend the compromise. The networks say the agreement offers useful fee relief and more payment choices. In their October 14 reply, they argued that the opposition represents a small portion of the merchant class and that pursuing a trial would bring substantial uncertainty and further appeals.

For you, the disagreement means the deal remains contested despite preliminary approval. The court still has to decide whether the compromise should become binding.

What Changes for Small Businesses

If you run a small business, card acceptance is a cost you have to manage on every sale. The agreement would give you lower interchange rates and more ways to encourage cheaper payments, but those choices come with limits. Here is what you would need to consider before changing your checkout. Small sellers who also take bank transfers can read our explainer on what Zelle is and how it works.

• Lower fees have different time limits. The combined average effective credit interchange reduction would last five years, while the 1.25% standard consumer card cap would last eight. Your own savings would depend on the cards customers use. You should not treat the average reduction as a promise that every transaction becomes cheaper by the same amount.

• You could steer customers toward cheaper payments. Discounts and credit card surcharges would give you more ways to influence payment choice. You could make different acceptance decisions for Visa and Mastercard categories, and the same acceptance principles would apply when customers use digital wallets rather than plastic cards.

• Refusing cards is a business decision. You could test acceptance changes by location or sales channel instead of applying one policy everywhere. Still, gaining the right to refuse premium cards does not answer whether your customers would accept that decision. Analysts expect surcharges and limited trials to appear before widespread refusals.

• State restrictions still need attention. Goodwin’s March 2025 legal guidance listed Connecticut and Massachusetts as prohibiting credit card surcharges, with Colorado imposing a lower ceiling than network limits. The settlement’s interaction with those restrictions has not been confirmed, and you should not assume it cancels them. Surcharges remain subject to applicable state law.

• Merchant education is included. The agreement provides a $21 million fund for education about payment acceptance and costs. If approved and implemented, that support could help you assess the choices available to your business.

What Happens Next

Your next date to watch is November 16, 2026, when Judge Brian Cogan is scheduled to consider final approval. That hearing could move the agreement forward, but it does not promise new payment rules the following morning. Here is what still stands between the proposal and your checkout.

• The court must make its decision. A ruling could arrive before the end of 2026, though that timing is uncertain. Cogan will have to consider the agreement alongside merchant objections. Preliminary approval allowed the process to continue, rather than settling the final outcome.

• Approval could face an appeal. Even if Cogan approves the deal, further legal challenges remain possible. Implementation could take months or longer, so you should separate the approval date from the day a retailer actually changes its acceptance or surcharge policy.

• A separate bill remains stalled. The Credit Card Competition Act would require banks with more than $100 billion in assets to offer at least two unaffiliated credit card networks, including one outside Visa and Mastercard. It was reintroduced on January 13, 2026, but did not make it into the housing bill passed by the Senate on March 12. Its proposed routing requirements are separate from this settlement.

• The legislative odds are uncertain. An August 10 report suggested roughly a one-in-ten prediction-market chance of the bill becoming law in 2026, although its figures were inconsistent. That report also listed no committee hearing or scheduled floor vote. Treat those odds as an uncertain snapshot from August, rather than a reliable prediction of what happens next.

For your card, the court ruling and any implementation timetable matter more than speculation. Neither the proposed agreement nor an unfinished bill tells you that your rewards will disappear.

What You Can Do Now

You do not need to replace your favorite rewards card because of a pending agreement. A little preparation can help you handle a refusal or surcharge if merchants eventually introduce them. Start with these five checks.

1. Keep a backup standard card. If you already have a standard consumer credit card without an annual fee, keep it available as another payment option. A merchant that refuses premium cards could still accept standard cards. Check your card’s category with its issuer rather than assuming that no annual fee automatically means standard.

1. Consider debit when credit costs extra. The settlement’s surcharge permission covers credit cards, not debit cards. If a retailer adds a credit surcharge, compare your available payment options before completing the purchase. You may decide the points are not worth the extra charge.

1. Read changes to your card terms. Watch for issuer notices about annual fees, rewards rates and benefits. Those changes are possible responses to lower interchange income, rather than confirmed consequences of this agreement. Judge your card by the terms you actually receive.

1. Check the total and your receipt. Look for disclosed credit card surcharges before paying, then check that the receipt reflects what you expected. State restrictions and network rules still matter. The proposed 3% ceiling does not mean every business can automatically charge you that amount.

1. Follow the ruling and implementation dates. Watch the November 16 hearing, the court’s eventual decision and any later appeals. If approval arrives, look for a confirmed timetable before assuming a shop has gained or started using these permissions.

Your rewards card may still earn its place in your wallet. Keep another way to pay, pay attention to the total, and let confirmed changes guide your next decision. Paying with your phone is another backup, and our guide on Google Wallet tap to pay problems can help if it fails at the register.

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