From the ABA: Join Letter Opposing Mastercard/Visa Settlement Before 9/1

The American Booksellers Association (ABA) encourages bookstores to join the Merchants Payments Coalition (MPC)'s sign-on letter objecting to the proposed settlement in MDL-1720. This letter urges the District Court Judge to deny final approval. ABA believes the court should reject the settlement because it would grant Visa, Mastercard, and major card-issuing banks sweeping immunity from anticompetitive card fees and practices while offering merchants only temporary, inadequate relief.

Overly Broad Liability Release

The proposed settlement imposes a broad liability release that cuts off merchants' rights to seek relief from anticompetitive fees and rules. Key concerns include:

• Permanent Waiver of Rights: Merchants are forced to give up the right to bring future legal claims against Visa, Mastercard, and bank defendants.
• Broad "Future" Coverage: Merchants are barred from challenging both past issues and future problems stemming from the ongoing effects of current policies.
• Extensive Definition of "Merchant Fees": The definition covers almost any cost deducted from card transactions, preventing challenges to a vast range of fees.
• Blocking Critical Rule Challenges: The settlement restricts the ability to contest important network rules, such as those involving routing, tokenization, and card authentication.

Insufficient and Temporary Relief

Furthermore, the proposed relief is insufficient and fails to address core anticompetitive issues:

• Entrenched Cartel Structure: The settlement allows the Visa/Mastercard duopoly to continue centrally fixing interchange fee rates, inflating prices for consumers.
• Miniscule Interchange Reduction: The proposed 0.1% reduction is negligible compared to the current 2.36% average rate and lasts for only five years.
• Network Fee Loopholes: Visa and Mastercard can simply increase network fees or create new fee categories, effectively canceling out interchange relief.
• Ineffective "Honor All Cards" Reforms: Permitting merchants to decline "Premium" cards is impractical because these account for 90% of spending. True relief would require the ability to decline cards from specific overpriced issuers.
• Easily Circumvented Rate Caps: Banks can reclassify "Standard" cards as "Premium" or create new categories to bypass rate caps.

ABA believes it is crucial for booksellers to sign onto the MPC’s objection letter, as the court's decision will significantly affect the ability of merchants to pursue future claims.

The full letter and sign-on form are available here: https://app.smartsheet.com/b/form/019f900b01c07bd99f2db4200dd21daa

Please complete all required fields by COB September 1, 2026, to ensure your business is added to the letter.

Booksellers can send questions to David Grogan:

David Grogan, Director
ABFE, Advocacy & Public Policy
American Booksellers Association

Note: Money bookstores have may have received from the first part of the Mastercard/Visa settlement has no bearing on this portion of the settlement.