CHICAGO (MarketWatch) -- MasterCard said late Friday that it, along with Visa and various banks, have agreed to a memorandum of understanding to settle litigation brought by merchants. The deal means that MasterCard will pay $790 million in cash, give the merchants a 10 basis-point reduction in credit interchange rates for eight months and modify its surcharge rule to allow U.S. merchants to levy checkout fees on credit cards. Visa agreed to similar conditions and its share of the total cash liability will be $4.4 billion.
