Credit Cards

The surcharge for using a credit card may be about to fall

Merchants reach settlement with credit card companies on 'swipe fees'

After years of lawsuits, Visa, Mastercard and the largest credit card-issuing banks have reached a settlement with merchants. They have agreed to lower fees for accepting credit cards, often called “swipe fees.”

The agreement means all rates will go down by 0.04% for three years. The average rate across all payment networks would fall by 0.07% for five years.

Lawyers for the merchants said the agreement would provide $30 billion in fee relief over five years. According to...