Merchants Win $30B Settlement Allowing Surcharges on Premium Credit Cards

The $30B settlement between merchants and Visa/Mastercard may lead to higher fees for premium credit cards like Visa Infinite and Chase Sapphire Reserve.

Premium cards can charge over $500 in annual fees but offer perks like travel discounts and bonus points.

Merchants complained they were required to accept all credit cards and couldn't charge more for premium cards.

As part of the settlement, merchants can now offer discounts or surcharges on cards with higher interchange fees.

The settlement reduces interchange fees by at least 0.04 percentage points for 3 years and caps rates for 5 years.