In this article
The long-running fight over Visa and Mastercard swipe fees hit two milestones worth a Northeast Ohio merchant's attention this week. A proposed settlement that would lower credit card rates is heading for a final-approval hearing, and a separate, older settlement has now paid out hundreds of millions of dollars to merchants, some of whom do not know they are owed anything.
Neither one is automatic money. Both only matter if you can see your own fees.
The proposed rate cuts
Visa and Mastercard are asking a federal judge to approve a settlement that would lower credit interchange for a set period, according to Payments Dive. The proposal would trim credit interchange rates by about 10 basis points, which is a tenth of a percent, for five years, and cap standard consumer-card rates at 1.25% for eight years. A federal judge in Brooklyn is set to hold a final-approval hearing on November 16. The class covers more than 12 million merchants.
It is not a done deal. Large retailers including Walmart and the National Retail Federation are opposing the settlement, arguing the relief is too small for how long it locks merchants in, while the networks call the objectors "a vocal minority." Treat the rate cuts as proposed, not final, until the judge rules.
A tenth of a percent sounds tiny, and on a single sale it is. Across a year of card volume it is real money, and it only reaches you if you can see your interchange on your statement in the first place. On interchange-plus pricing, a drop in interchange flows straight to you. On a blended rate, it may not.
The money already being paid out
Separately, the older cash settlement, the roughly $5.5 billion fund that has been winding through the courts for years, has now paid about $631.7 million to 689,340 merchants, including a second distribution that began the prior month, per the same outlet's reporting. Any U.S. business that accepted Visa or Mastercard between January 2004 and January 2019 is eligible.
If that is you, and it is most businesses that have been around a while, it is worth confirming whether a claim was filed on your behalf and that your contact and payment details are current. This is money for fees you already paid years ago. Our guide to reading your statement will not file the claim for you, but it will help you understand what those fees were in the first place.
Also this week
Fiserv passes 5 million Clover devices
Fiserv said it has now shipped more than 5 million Clover devices worldwide, per the company, up from 4 million last year and 1 million back in 2018. Plenty of Northeast Ohio counters run a Clover. The device is only part of what you pay, though. The processing wrapped around it is the part that adds up, and it swings a lot depending on who set you up. If you like your Clover but suspect your rate, those are two separate questions, and you can change the second without replacing the first.
Same-day ACH keeps climbing
Nacha reported that same-day ACH volume jumped 36.7% year over year in the third quarter, to 470.4 million payments worth $1.3 trillion, in its Q3 network report. The whole ACH network moved 9.3 billion payments in the quarter. For a merchant, that means bank-to-bank payments keep getting faster, and they are worth a look for B2B invoices, vendor payments, or payroll, where ACH can undercut card costs. It will not fit every counter sale. For the right payment it beats a card on price.
Swipe fees and your Halloween register
The last item is seasonal. The Merchants Payments Coalition estimated that swipe fees will add nearly $320 million to this year's Halloween spending, in a release using an average card fee of 2.36%. Costumes, decorations, and candy each carry roughly $100 million of that total. The group has a stake in the fight, but the math is just arithmetic: a percentage fee grows with your ticket, so a busy seasonal weekend is also your highest-fee weekend. That is a plain argument for looking at dual pricing before your next big sales stretch.
What to do this week
- Check whether your business accepted Visa or Mastercard between 2004 and 2019, and whether a settlement claim was filed for you.
- Confirm whether you are on interchange-plus or a blended rate, so a future interchange cut actually reaches you.
- If you run a Clover, price your processing separately from the hardware you already own.
- If card fees spike during your busy season, look at whether dual pricing fits your business before the holidays.
How Cloud 9 helps
We cannot speed up a court or pass a bill. What we do is price on transparent interchange-plus, so when interchange moves, whether from this settlement or anything else, you see it on your statement instead of wondering where it went. We set up and support Clover without charging an annual, PCI, or infrastructure surprise fee, the agreement is month-to-month, and support is local out of Chagrin Falls.
If you want to know your real effective rate, or whether dual pricing makes sense for your shop, send a recent statement through our contact form or call or text 1-855-297-6722.
Figures are as of October 20, 2026, from the sources linked above. The proposed settlement is not final. Nothing here is legal advice.
