Core Viewpoint - Visa and Mastercard are nearing a settlement with merchants that will lower interchange fees and provide more flexibility for merchants in card acceptance [2][3][5] Group 1: Settlement Details - The proposed settlement would reduce credit card interchange fees, currently between 2% and 2.5%, by an average of approximately 0.1 percentage points over several years [3] - Merchants would gain the ability to reject certain types of credit cards, allowing them to not accept all cards from a network if they choose [5][6] - The new agreement may categorize credit card acceptance into different types, such as rewards cards and commercial cards, which could impact consumer shopping behavior [5][6] Group 2: Legal Background - The legal battle began in 2005 when merchants accused Visa, Mastercard, and large banks of engaging in monopolistic practices regarding interchange fees and acceptance terms [7][8] - Previous attempts to settle, such as an agreement to reduce fees by 0.07 percentage points, were rejected by the court [8] Group 3: Consumer Impact - The potential changes could significantly affect consumers, as merchants may opt to decline high-fee rewards cards, which could lead to a loss of sales for those stores [5][6] - Research indicates that while many cardholders value loyalty rewards, only 20% redeem them at least once a month, suggesting varied consumer engagement with these benefits [9]

The credit card companies could lower interchange fees under the terms of the deal, which is still under discussion https://t.co/JOYIsa7kE7 ...

Yeah, Scott, quite the debut it's been today. Currently, shares are trading about 36% higher around 3667. This comes after Chime priced a dollar above the range at $27 per share, which at that time implied a fully diluted valuation of 11.6% billion, which is less than half the valuation Chime commanded back in 2021 in a private funding round.Uh, still of course the stock doing quite well today. Chime is a fintech company that provides banking services that target individuals making $100,000 a year or below. ...