---
title: "Visa and Mastercard's $198 billion swipe-fee fight reopens, with a December 10 Fed deadline"
description: "Visa, Mastercard and the banks that issue their cards fund rewards and fraud prevention from that fee pool. The first deadline that matters closes about December 10, when the Federal Reserve's window to defend its vacated debit cap ends."
publisher: "The Inference"
section: "Economy"
published: 2026-11-12T18:13:30.643Z
modified: 2026-11-12T18:13:30.643Z
canonical: https://theinference.org/article/visa-and-mastercard-s-198-billion-swipe-fee-fight-reopens-with-a-december-10-fed-deadline
language: en
keywords: "Swipe Fees, Visa, Mastercard, Federal Reserve, Credit Card Competition Act"
---

# Visa and Mastercard's $198 billion swipe-fee fight reopens, with a December 10 Fed deadline

> Visa, Mastercard and the banks that issue their cards fund rewards and fraud prevention from that fee pool. The first deadline that matters closes about December 10, when the Federal Reserve's window to defend its vacated debit cap ends.

## Affordability won, and merchants want it cashed in

Nine in 10 voters called the cost of living a "major" or "crucial" factor in their vote [1]. Democrats won healthy majorities in both congressional chambers in last week's election [1], taking the Senate on November 3 [2]. The merchants' side read it as a mandate: Doug Kantor, general counsel of the National Association of Convenience Stores and a Merchant Payments Coalition executive committee member, said he expects swipe-fee bills in more than a dozen states [1].

Merchants paid $198.25 billion in credit and debit swipe fees last year, according to [the Nilson Report](https://finance.yahoo.com/economy/policy/articles/trump-doubles-down-credit-card-103000683.html) [3], roughly 2% to 3% per transaction, on rates that networks such as [Mastercard](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/mastercard) and [Visa](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/visa) set themselves [1].

## Every curb so far has stalled or died

Illinois' 2024 Interchange Fee Prohibition Act, which bars interchange, the swipe fee merchants pay on each card transaction, on the tax and tip portions of a bill, [was permanently enjoined for national banks and the card networks in June](https://www.americanbanker.com/news/judge-blocks-illinois-from-enforcing-swipe-fee-ban) on federal preemption grounds, and the state is appealing [1][4]. Colorado's version was vetoed by Governor Jared Polis [1].

The Credit Card Competition Act would require banks above $100 billion in assets to open their cards to at least two networks, and it has President Trump's public backing [3]. On November 3 it lost both lead Senate sponsors: Roger Marshall of Kansas, unseated by a Democrat, and Dick Durbin of Illinois, who retires [2][5]. Backers may try a lame-duck attachment, with long odds [2], and the fight predates the election ([The Inference, October](https://theinference.org/article/merchants-have-collected-631-7-million-from-visa-and-mastercard-in-21-years-november-16-sets-the-fee-rules)).

## The risk moved to statehouses and committee gavels

Democrats also won six new state trifectas, states where the party now holds the governorship and both legislative chambers, plus five governorships including Texas [1]. Washington's chairs change with the map: Elizabeth Warren is in line to lead the Senate Banking Committee and Maxine Waters the House Financial Services Committee, with bipartisan bills in both chambers to cap card rates at 10% against average APRs above 20% [2].

Card lenders slid on the week after the results, Synchrony by 2.1% and [Capital One](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/capital-one) by 1.5% [2].

## An appeals court has already vacated the debit cap

The courtroom moved before the election did. On October 26 the Eighth Circuit [vacated the Federal Reserve's debit interchange cap](https://www.courthousenews.com/eighth-circuit-strikes-down-federal-reserves-21-cent-debit-card-fee-cap/) in a suit brought by Corner Post, a North Dakota convenience store, holding that the Fed unlawfully folded fixed costs into a cap meant to cover only the marginal cost of each transaction [6]. The old rate, 21 cents plus 0.05% of the transaction and a fraud-prevention cent, stands only until the court's mandate issues after the rehearing deadline [7][8].

| Front | What it would do | Status |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Illinois Interchange Fee Prohibition Act, 2024 | Bars interchange on the tax and tip portions of a bill | Permanently enjoined for national banks and the card networks in June; the state is appealing |
| Colorado interchange law | A state version of the same curb | Vetoed by Governor Jared Polis |
| Credit Card Competition Act | Banks above $100 billion in assets must open their cards to at least two networks | Lost both lead Senate sponsors on November 3; a lame-duck attachment has long odds |
| Eighth Circuit, Corner Post suit | Vacated the Fed's debit cap of 21 cents plus 0.05% and a fraud-prevention cent | Old rate stands only until the court's mandate issues after the rehearing deadline |

*The swipe-fee curbs and where each stands, as the story's sources describe them.*

## The banks' answer, and the revenue that kept coming

Jason Stverak, chief advocacy officer of the Defense Credit Union Council, said after the ruling that a secure debit transaction "requires infrastructure, fraud monitoring, network connectivity, and ongoing investment," costs that "do not disappear because a court limits which ones may be reflected in an interchange standard" [8]. Banks justify the fees as funding fraud prevention, processing and rewards [1]. The revenue those fees feed kept compounding straight through the fight [9][10].

*Chart: **Network revenue is up 40% or more since late 2023, through every challenge** Line chart of quarterly net revenue for Mastercard and Visa from Q4 2023 to Q3 2026. Both climb steadily, Mastercard from $6.5 billion to $9.8 billion and Visa from $8.6 billion to $12.1 billion.*

*Quarterly net revenue, USD billions, by calendar quarter, from SEC filings. Visa's fiscal year ends in September, so its points are calendar-aligned here. The Eighth Circuit vacated the Fed's debit cap on October 26, after the last quarter shown closed. [9][10]*

## The December rehearing deadline is the next test

The Fed has about [45 days from the ruling to ask the Eighth Circuit to rehear the case](https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/eighth-circuit-vacates-federal-reserve-2414849/) [2][7]. If it does not, and the mandate issues, the Fed must rebuild the cap on marginal cost alone; its own 2023 proposal to cut the rate to 14.4 cents already stalled under bank resistance [6]. Next come the new state legislatures, where Kantor expects more than a dozen swipe-fee proposals [1]. Whether the Fed seeks a rehearing by about December 10 decides what merchants pay on debit next year [1].

## Takeaway

The Eighth Circuit vacated the Fed's 21-cent debit cap, and whether the Fed seeks a rehearing by about December 10 decides what merchants pay on debit next year, while the election moves the rest of the fight to statehouses.

## Sources

1. [American Banker, Democrats' affordability mandate could revive swipe-fee fight, 11 November 2026](https://www.americanbanker.com/news/democrats-affordability-mandate-could-revive-swipe-fee-fight)
2. [The Weekly Statement (Morning Interest), Block and Sezzle raise outlooks as hiring surges, 7 November 2026](https://morninginterest.com/issues/2026-11-07)
3. [Yahoo Finance (Moneywise), Trump doubles down on Credit Card Competition Act as merchants paid $198 billion in swipe fees last year, 6 August 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/economy/policy/articles/trump-doubles-down-credit-card-103000683.html)
4. [American Banker, Judge blocks Illinois from enforcing swipe fee ban, 2 June 2026](https://www.americanbanker.com/news/judge-blocks-illinois-from-enforcing-swipe-fee-ban)
5. [American Banker, Swipe fee bill cosponsor Marshall defeated in reelection, 3 November 2026](https://www.americanbanker.com/news/swipe-fee-bill-cosponsor-marshall-defeated-in-reelection)
6. [Courthouse News Service, Eighth Circuit strikes down Federal Reserve's 21-cent debit card fee cap, 26 October 2026](https://www.courthousenews.com/eighth-circuit-strikes-down-federal-reserves-21-cent-debit-card-fee-cap/)
7. [JD Supra (Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton), Eighth Circuit Vacates Federal Reserve's Debit-Card Interchange Fee Cap, 30 October 2026](https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/eighth-circuit-vacates-federal-reserve-2414849/)
8. [PYMNTS, Court Orders Fed to Rewrite Debit Card Swipe Fee Rule, 26 October 2026](https://www.pymnts.com/legal/2026/feds-debit-card-swipe-fee-rule-quashed-by-appeals-court/)
9. [Mastercard, quarterly figures from its SEC filings, retrieved 12 November 2026](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001141391)
10. [Visa Inc., quarterly figures from its SEC filings, retrieved 12 November 2026](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001403161)


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Visa and Mastercard's $198 billion swipe-fee fight reopens, with a December 10 Fed deadline — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/visa-and-mastercard-s-198-billion-swipe-fee-fight-reopens-with-a-december-10-fed-deadline