Proposed Swipe-Fee Settlement: What Marketers Need to Know

The newly proposed $38 billion Visa/Mastercard swipe-fee settlement, announced on November 10, 2025, is making significant headlines. For many businesses, this settlement represents a valuable opportunity to slow the rising costs associated with accepting credit cards. Although the agreement has not yet been approved, the proposed settlement offers genuine advantages for marketers, along with new challenges for customer experience that will require careful planning.

What Marketers Stand to Gain:

• Small but meaningful fee reductions: Interchange fees will decrease by 0.1 percentage point for five years. While this change may not be transformative, the savings can accumulate considerably over time. The settlement does not specify whether this reduction applies to all interchange categories or only to certain types of merchants.
• Predictable pricing on standard consumer cards: Standard cards will have a cap of 1.25% for eight years, providing businesses a rare layer of cost stability.
• Flexibility to accept or reject specific card categories: For the first time, merchants could choose whether to accept premium rewards cards, commercial cards, or standard cards. This breaks the long-standing “honor-all-cards” rule that forced acceptance of every card type, including the most expensive ones.
• Expanded surcharging rights: Businesses could apply up to a 3% surcharge on certain card types to offset higher fees. It is unclear whether this would extend to states that currently do not permit surcharging.

While these are positive steps forward, it should be noted that this deal does not limit other types of network fees (e.g., “network” or “routing” fees) in the same way; critics argue Visa and Mastercard could raise those fees in the future.

The Customer Experience Challenge: Should this settlement pass, businesses must be cautious with customers, as these new benefits come with a delicate customer experience balancing act. Marketers should expect:

• Pushback on surcharges: Shoppers often interpret surcharges as a penalty, even when they simply reflect the costs of processing.
• Awkward customer service interactions: If a marketer stops accepting premium rewards cards or adds fees to them, staff should expect to receive questions, frustration, and an increase in customer service calls.
• Shifts in card behavior: Consumers love their rewards. Restricting premium cards may change spending patterns or influence where they choose to do business.

If this proposal passes, marketers will have more cost control tools, but using them without harming customer goodwill will require clear signage, consistent messaging, and well-trained staff.

What It Means in Practice

Marketers can expect modest savings and, more importantly, flexibility. Under the proposed settlement, businesses can decline high-cost rewards cards or steer customers toward lower-cost options. But you’ll need to manage the customer experience implications carefully.

Consumers choose credit cards for rewards, not efficiency. Anything that interferes with those habits risks frustration or slower payments, potentially extending card-on-file payments for loyal customers to 30 days or more as they transition to different payment methods. Surcharges often feel punitive, and being told “that card costs extra” or “we don’t take that card” can irritate loyal customers and even prompt them to switch to competitors. Businesses will have more cost-management tools than ever, but using them without damaging loyalty will require a delicate balance.

Will the Settlement Actually Stick?

Approval is not guaranteed. A previous settlement was rejected, and major merchant groups say this version still doesn’t go far enough. The merchants’ objections filed last month focus broadly on the limited timeframe of the eight-year fee caps and that the settlement does not require additional changes to reduce fees across all merchants.

Meanwhile, Visa and Mastercard are pushing for approval, arguing in their filing that big box retailers face challenges proving their antitrust claims should the case go to trial and on appeal. The card brand networks also asked the court to reject Walmart’s request to divide the plaintiff’s class or to allow merchants to opt out, stating that “Walmart’s interests were adequately represented by class counsel, and, to the extent it disagrees with the outcome, it will be fully heard by this Court through the settlement approval process.”

Congress is also considering the Credit Card Competition Act, which could introduce even more profound structural changes. According to experts, there’s a moderate chance the current deal will be approved, but revisions are likely.

The Bottom Line

For Visa and Mastercard, this settlement is a good deal. They avoid a drawn-out trial and cap some interchange costs without admitting liability. However, keep in mind that they also own the networks and may still adjust other network-related fees over time. This settlement pertains to swipe/interchange fees, not a blanket cap on all transaction fees. The proposed settlement represents progress; however, the payments landscape will continue to evolve across the courts, Congress, and network pricing models.

For marketers, this settlement provides meaningful choice in which cards they accept and greater predictability in the costs of those cards. But the industry should be cautious; rolling out these new programs will require thoughtful execution. Customers won’t simply adapt, and it is ultimately their reactions that will shape how effective these changes are.

Qualpay will follow the settlement closely, and as more information becomes available, we will provide the details and be able to answer specific questions about how they may impact the delivered fuel space. Marci Gagnon is the Senior VP, Sales for Qualpay and has been in the payments industry for over 15 years with a concentration on recurring billing and the Energy space. Qualpay provides processing solutions to fuel delivery and service businesses with tools designed to provide real-time reconciliation and cost reduction. For additional information contact Marci Gagnon at marci@qualpay.com or visit https://www.qualpay.com/industry/utility-and-energy.