[h=3]The Associated Press[/h]Updated
Visa, MasterCard and major banks agreed Friday to pay at least $6 billion to settle a lawsuit brought by retailers. A banking industry trade group said the settlement would allow stores to charge customers more to pay with a credit card.
Elise Amendola, AP
A handful of consumer credit cards.
Lawyers involved in the case called it the largest antitrust settlement in history.
The dispute dates to 2005. The retailers claimed Visa, MasterCard and the banks conspired to fix the fees that stores pay to accept credit and debit cards. The fees average about 2% of the price of a purchase.
Most major U.S. banks were defendants. The merchants include grocery chains Kroger and Safeway and the Rite Aid drugstore chain.
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Visa, MasterCard and major banks agreed Friday to pay at least $6 billion to settle a lawsuit brought by retailers. A banking industry trade group said the settlement would allow stores to charge customers more to pay with a credit card.
Elise Amendola, AP
A handful of consumer credit cards.
Lawyers involved in the case called it the largest antitrust settlement in history.
The dispute dates to 2005. The retailers claimed Visa, MasterCard and the banks conspired to fix the fees that stores pay to accept credit and debit cards. The fees average about 2% of the price of a purchase.
Most major U.S. banks were defendants. The merchants include grocery chains Kroger and Safeway and the Rite Aid drugstore chain.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to [email protected]. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.
USA TODAY is now using Facebook Comments on our stories and blog posts to provide an enhanced user experience. To post a comment, log into Facebook and then "Add" your comment. To report spam or abuse, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box. To find out more, read the FAQ and Conversation Guidelines.