US: NY Judge to hold $7.25B swipe-fee fairness hearing today

More than one year since credit card giants Visa and MasterCard, along with major banks, offered a $7.25 billion settlement to end a class action over its swipe-fees, a New York district judge is set to hold a fairness hearing today. The hearing has been widely anticipated as some of the nation’s top retailers, including Wal-Mart and Target, have opted out of the record-setting offer.

The number of retailers that opted out of the offer has surpassed the 25 percent threshold, triggering Visa and MasterCard to revoke the settlement, which they declined to do last month.

Now, US District Judge John Gleeson will preside over the class action’s fairness hearing, though reports say a final decision on the settlement may not be made for several weeks.

More than seven million businesses throughout the US are part of the class; experts say the case could be the largest private antitrust cash settlement in history, though due to the high volume of opt-outs, the value of the offer has decreased to approximately $5.74 billion.

Retailers claim the practice of interchange fees, which charge retailers every time a card is swiped at the register and which has made more than $40 billion every year for the banks that issue the cards, violate antitrust law. The case was launched in 2005.

Full Content: CSNews

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