After two decades of courtroom battles, Visa andMastercard are offering a $38 billion settlement to resolve allegations thatthey conspired to overcharge merchants through credit card “swipe fees.”Join IG, CMC, and Robinhood in London’s leading trading industry event!Yet, despite the headline figure, many business groupsargue the proposal fails to solve the problem at the heart of the dispute—howmuch it costs to accept a card payment in the United States, Reuters reported.A Fresh Attempt to Satisfy the CourtThe new settlement comes months after U.S. DistrictJudge Margo Brodie rejected an earlier $30 billion agreement as inadequate. Shecalled the proposed relief “paltry” compared to what Visa and Mastercard couldcontinue to collect. The card networks are now back with a revised offer,hoping to win approval and end one of the longest-running antitrust cases inU.S. payments history.Under the latest proposal, Visa and Mastercard wouldlower swipe fees—currently around 2% to 2.5%—by 0.1 percentage point for fiveyears. Merchants could also opt out of accepting certain categories of cards,such as premium rewards cards or commercial cards, while standard consumerrates would be capped at 1.25% for eight years.The companies say the deal would offer “meaningfulrelief” and greater flexibility for merchants. Neither Visa nor Mastercardadmitted wrongdoing. Both firms’ shares remained steady in afternoon tradingfollowing the announcement.Read more: Visa and Mastercard to Pay Nearly $200M in Decade-Long Merchant Class ActionMerchant groups were quick to reject the new deal. TheNational Retail Federation and the Merchants Payments Coalition said it stillleaves businesses paying too much to process card payments.Swipe fees, also known as interchange fees, totaled$111.2 billion in 2024, up from $100.8 billion the year before, according tothe NRF. That’s four times higher than in 2009.Promised Savings Versus RealityLawyers representing merchants said the $38 billionfigure represents projected savings through 2031, calculated by Nobel laureateJoseph Stiglitz and another economist. They estimate the deal could savemerchants more than $200 billion over its lifespan.In contrast, the Electronic Payments Coalition, whichincludes large banks such as JPMorgan Chase, Citibank, and Bank of America,supports the agreement. Its Executive Chairman Richard Hunt said the settlementwould lower fees beyond what’s proposed in a bipartisan Senate bill seeking toregulate card costs.The court must still approve the new deal. Ifaccepted, it would cap a 20-year dispute that reshaped the debate around howmuch merchants pay to accept card payments. This article was written by Jared Kirui at www.financemagnates.com.