On 9 June 2026, Judge Brian Cogan of the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York granted preliminary approval to a $38 billion settlement between Visa, Mastercard, and US merchants over interchange fees. Final approval is still pending, likely landing sometime between late 2026 and 2027, and nothing changes on merchant statements until that final approval lands. But the terms are worth understanding now, because they touch every SaaS business that takes card payments — which is nearly all of them.
What the settlement actually changes
Three terms matter most. Interchange fees get cut by 10 basis points across the board for five years. Standard consumer credit cards get a rate cap of 1.25% for eight years. And merchants gain the right to decline acceptance of specific premium or commercial card tiers — a real change from the prior "Honor All Cards" rule, which required a merchant accepting any card from a network to accept every tier that network issued, including expensive premium and corporate cards.
That last point is the one most likely to affect a SaaS business's actual margins. Under Honor All Cards, a merchant had no way to say yes to a customer's standard consumer card while declining their corporate rewards card, even though the corporate card often carries a materially higher interchange rate. Once this settlement is finalised, that option opens up.
Why nothing changes yet
Preliminary approval is not final approval. According to Payments Dive's coverage of the ruling, and the settlement agreement itself as filed in Visa's SEC 8-K disclosure, the process still has to run through a fairness hearing and objection period before Judge Cogan can grant final approval. Estimates for that final approval point to late 2026 into 2027. Only after final approval do the interchange cuts, the rate cap, and the merchant's right to decline premium cards actually take effect in a way that shows up on a processing statement.
This means there's genuinely nothing to action yet beyond awareness. Any processor or advisor telling you to renegotiate your rates today because of this settlement is getting ahead of the actual timeline.
What to watch for
Two things are worth tracking. The first is the final approval date itself — once Judge Cogan grants it, the clock starts on the 10 basis-point cut and the 1.25% cap, and processors will need to start passing at least some of that through. The second is how your specific payment processor communicates the change. Interchange savings don't automatically flow to a merchant's bottom line; it depends entirely on how your processor's pricing model is structured. A merchant on a flat "blended" processing rate may see none of the interchange reduction passed through directly, while a merchant on interchange-plus pricing should see it reflected fee-by-fee.
According to Brookside Payments' explainer on the settlement, the practical benefit to any individual merchant depends heavily on this pass-through structure, which is exactly why it's worth re-reading your processor agreement once final approval lands rather than assuming savings arrive automatically.
What to actually do once final approval lands
When the final approval date is confirmed, do three things. Pull your current payment processor agreement and identify whether you're on blended or interchange-plus pricing, since that determines whether the interchange cut reaches you directly. Ask your processor, in writing, how and when the 10 basis-point reduction and the 1.25% consumer credit card cap will be reflected in your rates. And review your transaction data for how much volume comes through premium or commercial card tiers — if a meaningful share of your revenue arrives on expensive corporate cards, work out whether declining those tiers and asking the customer to use a standard card would improve your margin more than it costs you in friction.
None of this needs to happen today. But putting a calendar reminder against "check for final approval" now means you're ready to act on your processor agreement the moment the terms take effect, rather than finding out six months later that you left savings on the table.
The bottom line
A $38 billion Visa/Mastercard interchange settlement has preliminary court approval as of 9 June 2026, with a 10 basis-point fee cut, a 1.25% consumer credit card rate cap, and the end of mandatory acceptance of every card tier once it's final. Nothing changes until final approval lands, likely late 2026 into 2027, so the one thing to do now is flag your processor agreement for review the moment that date is confirmed.