Visa,MasterCard near antitrust settlement

Visa and MasterCard are close to settling a Justice Department antitrust probe over credit-card acceptance rules and the settlement could be announced early this week.

Visa and MasterCard are close to settling a Justice Department antitrust probe over credit-card acceptance rules and the settlement could be announced early this week,a media report has said.

Citing people familiar with the negotiations,the Wall Street Journal said,”Visa and MasterCard are close to settling a Justice Department antitrust probe over credit card acceptance rules,potentially giving merchants more flexibility to steer customers to cheaper forms of plastic.”

The Justice Department investigation,involves card company policies that prevent merchants from encouraging customers to use cards that have lower processing fees. The practice,known as “steering,” is currently permitted only under certain circumstances,the newspaper said.

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Under the settlement that is in the works,Visa and MasterCard would give merchants more leeway in deciding whether they wanted to offer incentives for customers who use cards that are less costly to merchants.

The settlement,is not likely to result in a big financial hit to Visa or MasterCard,but could be the latest setback for the credit-card industry.

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