The 2026 Visa/Mastercard Settlement: What Changes at Your Register

The Visa Mastercard settlement of 2026 is not in effect yet, but it is close: a federal judge granted it preliminary approval in June, and a final approval hearing is set for November 16, 2026. If it survives that hearing and any appeals, it would trim credit card interchange, cap rates on standard consumer credit cards, and give merchants new say over which Visa and Mastercard credit cards they accept and how they price them. Here is what would actually change at your register, what would not, and what is worth doing now.

Where the settlement stands right now

This settlement is the latest chapter in a swipe-fee lawsuit (MDL 1720 in the Eastern District of New York) that merchants first brought in 2005. An earlier version, valued at about $30 billion, was rejected by Judge Margo Brodie in June 2024. Visa and Mastercard announced a revised deal with the merchant class in November 2025, and on June 9, 2026, U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan granted it preliminary approval, calling it "fair, reasonable, and adequate."

Preliminary approval is not the finish line. The class covers roughly 12 million merchants, and the court still has to hold a final approval hearing, which Payments Dive reports is scheduled for November 16, 2026. In an October 2026 filing, the networks urged the court to approve the deal and argued the objections "merely reprise the same arguments this Court already considered and rejected."

Opposition is organized. Walmart, the National Retail Federation, the Retail Industry Leaders Association, the National Grocers Association and the Merchants Payments Coalition have all criticized the deal, and the general counsel of the National Association of Convenience Stores told Payments Dive the group will appeal to the Second Circuit if final approval is granted.

The likely timeline

The interchange cuts: how much and for how long

Interchange is the fee the cardholder's bank earns on each sale, and it is the largest piece of what you pay to accept cards. The settlement's fee terms, as reported by Payments Dive, American Banker and Reuters, are:

• A 10 basis point cut on credit interchange for five years. That is 0.10 percentage point, or 10 cents on every $100 of credit card sales.
• A 1.25% rate for standard consumer credit cards for eight years. Standard cards are the basic, non-rewards consumer cards. Premium and rewards cards cost more today, and the reported terms do not put the same limit on them.

For context, coverage of the approval cited an average credit interchange rate of roughly 2.35% to 2.36%. The Merchants Payments Coalition puts total U.S. swipe fees at $118.8 billion in 2025. Plaintiffs' experts estimated the changes could save merchants $38 billion by 2031. That $38 billion is a savings estimate, not a payout, and the settlement does not send checks to merchants.

A worked example

That is real money, but it is modest next to what many small businesses lose to pricing markups. For many small businesses, the markup built into a flat-rate or tiered plan is larger than 10 basis points. If you have never checked your merchant statement line by line, that is the higher-value project.

Honor all cards: what you could decline

For decades, Visa and Mastercard's "honor all cards" rule has meant that if you accept one of a network's credit cards, you accept all of them, including the expensive premium rewards and corporate cards. The settlement would relax that rule. As reported, merchants could choose which categories of a network's credit cards to accept:

• Standard consumer credit cards
• Premium consumer credit cards, including rewards cards
• Commercial credit cards (business, corporate and purchasing cards)

A few limits matter. You could choose by category, not by bank: objectors point out that merchants would still have to honor all issuers within a category, so you could not accept one bank's rewards cards and reject another's. And the reported changes focus on Visa and Mastercard credit. Debit cards and American Express sit outside them.

For most small businesses, declining a card category is a customer-experience decision more than a fee decision. An auto repair shop that does fleet work probably can't afford to turn away commercial cards (our guide to fleet card processing explains why). A coffee shop that turns away a regular's rewards card over a few cents of interchange may lose the regular. The option has the most value as leverage and for high-ticket businesses with thin margins.

Surcharging and discounts under the settlement

The settlement would also loosen how you can price different cards. Payments Dive reports merchants would gain new rights to add surcharges and offer discounts as a way to steer customers away from cards with higher interchange. According to an analysis by the law firm Arnall Golden Gregory, the terms would let merchants surcharge credit cards up to 3% of the transaction, at the brand or product level, with disclosure still required and surcharging by issuer still prohibited.

In practice, that could mean surcharging premium rewards cards but not standard cards, or offering a discount for paying with a lower-cost card. What it would not do:

• Override state law. A network rule cannot authorize a fee that your state prohibits or caps lower.
• Allow debit surcharges. Network rules already bar surcharging debit and prepaid cards, and nothing reported in the settlement changes that.
• Let you surcharge above your cost. Network rules already tie surcharges to what accepting the card costs you.

Our pillar guide to credit card surcharge rules in 2026 covers the state-by-state picture, and cash discount vs. surcharge explains which model fits which business.

What it means for Colorado businesses

Colorado is a good example of why the settlement won't change much for surcharging in some states. Under C.R.S. § 5-2-212, a Colorado merchant can surcharge credit and charge card payments only up to 2% of the purchase or the merchant discount fee it actually pays, whichever is less, with required signage and a separate line on the receipt. Even if the networks allow 3%, a Colorado shop stays at 2%. Surcharges on cash, checks, debit cards and gift card redemptions remain off-limits in Colorado.

Where the settlement could matter more in Colorado is on the cost side: the interchange cut and the standard-card rate, plus the option to decline or price premium cards differently. Our Colorado surcharge law guide walks through the 2% cap and the signage wording.

Will your fees actually go down?

That depends almost entirely on how your processor prices your account.

This is why the settlement and your pricing model can't be separated. Our comparison of interchange-plus vs. flat-rate pricing shows how to tell which one you have.

What to do now

This part of the case is about future rules and rates rather than cash payments, so there is no payout to claim. A few steps will put you in a better spot whichever way the court rules:

• Know your pricing model. Find out whether you are on interchange-plus, flat-rate or tiered pricing. Only interchange-plus guarantees cuts pass through.
• Know your card mix. Look at how much of your volume runs on standard credit, premium rewards, commercial and debit cards. That tells you what the 1.25% rate and category choices are worth to you.
• Don't change your signs yet. Keep your surcharge or cash discount program on today's rules until your processor confirms the new network rules are in effect.
• Check your state's cap. If you surcharge, your state limit (2% in Colorado) still controls.
• Watch the November 16 hearing. Final approval, and whether objectors appeal, will set the real timeline.

If you want to know what the settlement would mean for your own statement, send us a recent one. Our free statement review breaks down your card mix and pricing so you can see what you pay today and what would change.

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