US: Visa, MC swipe-fee woes head to Texas

More than 100 merchants in Texas filed a lawsuit against credit card conglomerates Visa and MasterCard in a case reports say centers around the issue of interchange fees in an effort for the merchants to opt out of a record-setting settlement offered by the card companies last year. The businesses filed the lawsuit Tuesday in federal district court accusing Visa and MasterCard of anticompetitive membership rules that bar banks issuing the cards from competing for stores to accept those cards. Court documents say the plaintiffs, which is lead by Delta Air Lines, are seeking damages and attorneys’ fees. The case is the latest extension of interchange fee woes for the credit card companies, which offered a record $7.25 billion settlement last year over the fees charged to stores every time a card is swiped at the register. Since, some of the nation’s largest retailers have rejected the offer, including Wal-Mart and Target.

Full Content: Dallas News

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