Using Your Premium Credit Card May Cost More After Visa-Mastercard Deal
- Agreement allows retailers to charge extra for some cards
- Deal will save merchants $30 billion in swipe fees in 5 years
Picture this: A customer walks into a grocery store just looking to buy a carton of milk and a dozen eggs. But when they get to checkout, they’re suddenly faced with a choice: if they pay with a Chase Freedom Unlimited card it’ll be one price. But if they whip out a $550-a-year Chase Sapphire Reserve, it could cost them more.
That’s the new reality laid out in a landmark agreement struck between Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. and millions of US merchants on Tuesday, in which the payment giants agreed to a series of changes that retailers say will save them at least $30 billion in credit card swipe fees in the coming years. The agreement is the culmination of two decades of bitter negotiations between the two sides over the fees, which have swelled to become a $100 billion-a-year business for the two networks and the world’s biggest banks.