A federal judge in Brooklyn has given the green light, at least preliminarily, to a $38 billion settlement between Visa, Mastercard, and millions of US merchants. The deal resolves, or attempts to resolve, a two-decade-old antitrust case over credit card swipe fees that has become one of the longest-running commercial lawsuits in American history.
US District Judge Brian Cogan granted preliminary approval on April 27, 2026, setting the stage for a potential final sign-off later this year. The settlement was first announced in November 2025, eight bumpy months after a previous version of the deal was tossed out by the court.
A second attempt after a $30B rejection
An earlier proposal worth roughly $30 billion was rejected in June 2024 by US District Judge Margo Brodie. Her reasoning was blunt: the projected savings for merchants were, in her words, “paltry.”
The revised $38 billion deal represents a meaningful bump in value. Under the new terms, interchange fees, the charges merchants pay every time a customer swipes a Visa or Mastercard, would be reduced by approximately 0.1 percentage points per year over the next five years.
