
Visa, MasterCard $7.25B settlement with retailers is thrown out - chirau
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-visa-mastercard-settlement-idUSKCN0ZG21E
======
bradleyjg
The decision is available here:
[http://www.ca2.uscourts.gov/decisions/isysquery/dc5a3fd3-4b4...](http://www.ca2.uscourts.gov/decisions/isysquery/dc5a3fd3-4b46-4c82-b9b3-0e6c69ebb985/1/doc/12-4671_complete_opn.pdf)

I think it is more likely than not that this case will be granted cert. The
Supreme Court has in the past wanted to weigh in on extremely large and
consequential class action cases. For example, _Wal-Mart v. Dukes_ , 564 U.S.
338 where the District Court certified a class of 1.6 million people.

------
SubiculumCode
In a large part these credit card services offer little innovation, but a
whole lot of rentier profiteering.

It seems to me maybe time that credit and bank cards become regulated as a
public utility. Swipe fees over a nickel are probably exorbitant these days.

~~~
TheCowboy
I feel like there could be a simpler solution that requires less obligation
from the government. I believe merchants are mostly prohibited from passing on
credit card fees[0], or even requiring a minimum purchase[1], by credit card
service providers. I think it should be made illegal to prohibit merchants
from passing on fees however they see fit.

The problem with the status quo is that credit card companies, on top of
already making a generous profit, provide incentives like cashback that make
it foolish for consumers to not pay with a credit card. If they could pass on
the fees, then 1% cashback bonuses might not look so good, and people might
shift some purchases away from cards (as just one outcome). The price of the
convenience of the card would also be more upfront and the consumer market
could properly respond.

[0] This could vary by state, and I think there are some pending suits dealing
with this issue.

[1] It's still common to see this at small businesses, but I believe
technically you can report businesses that do this.

~~~
gergles
The outcome of this settlement was to permit passing on fees and to allow
minimums.

Now that has been thrown out, so let's go right back to the old way where I
could trust that using a credit card would work and not cost money.

The "convenience" argument for credit cards makes no sense to me. As a
business owner, it's way more convenient to have money just magically appear
in my account than it is to have to count it, store it, transport it to the
bank, pay for it to be processed at the bank, and worry about somebody walking
off with it at any point in that process.

We can quibble over how much that's worth, but I think it's worth way more
than the EU caps for interchange (0.3%) - especially given that the networks
and card issuers do have to eat a significant amount of fraud.

~~~
TheCowboy
I'm not clear on how my solution negatively affects you as a business owner.
It doesn't require you to pass on the fees. It's up to you as the business
owner.

Unless you think you might lose out on competition adding the fees and
accepting cash at a discount. If anything, it could possibly lead to more
competition on fees and charges by credit card service providers.

------
gruez
Just curious, went did so many (8000) retailers opt out?

~~~
tpowell
The settlement was weak, so they opted to preserve their right to sue.

"The Home Depot lawsuit comes a month after Wal-Mart sued Visa for the right
to choose how customers authorize debit-card purchases. The retailer wants
customers to use a PIN, but Visa requires that shoppers can have the choice
between a PIN and a signature."

[http://www.wsj.com/articles/home-depot-u-s-credit-card-
firms...](http://www.wsj.com/articles/home-depot-u-s-credit-card-firms-slow-
to-upgrade-security-1466000734)

~~~
rconti
The whole check card/debit card/credit/debit thing is a total fiasco. It's yet
another reason I'm happy to use a credit card for everything so I don't ever
have to worry about the transaction being processed the "wrong" way.

