Visa, MasterCard in $7.3 billion settlement over credit card fees

Updated at 8:13 p.m. ET: Visa, MasterCard and the nation's biggest banks have agreed to pay $7.3 billion to millions of merchants to end a seven-year dispute over credit card “swipe” fees. The settlement includes at least $6.05 billion in payments to some 7 million merchants for past damages and a temporary reduction in fees valued at $1.2 billion.

Visa alone has agreed to pay $4.4 billion to settle the class action and related individual claims from merchants who alleged the card issuers violated the Sherman antitrust act by fixing the fees imposed to process credit card transactions. The settlement, which still requires judicial approval, is believed to represent the largest payment ever in a private antitrust case brought under the Sherman Act.
[link to bottomline.msnbc.msn.com]