‘Visa, Mastercard can handle bigger settlement’

A federal judge said Visa and Mastercard can likely withstand a “substantially greater” settlement with merchants who said they overpaid on swipe fees than the $30 billion accord she rejected this week.

US District Judge Margo Brodie in Brooklyn made her assessment in an 88-page opinion released on Friday, three days after announcing her rejection of the preliminary settlement.

The accord covering more than 12 million merchants would have lowered and capped swipe fees, also known as interchange fees, they pay to handle Visa and Mastercard transactions.

But the judge called the estimated $6 billion of annual savings for merchants “paltry” compared with the estimated $100 billion in fees they paid to accept Visa and Mastercard in 2023.

Brodie said the proposed changes fell short of “best possible” recovery.