“The final settlement agreement preserves important consumer benefits of MasterCard’s Honor All Cards rule, while giving merchants flexibility to choose how broad a range of payment choices to offer their customers,” said Noah Hanft, MasterCard general counsel. “We believe this settlement ensures that the system will continue to work for consumers, merchants and MasterCard member financial institutions. With the merchant lawsuit behind us, we can return to focusing all of our attention on being the best business partner for our customers and the best choice for consumers.”
“One result of this lawsuit is that some consumers may get to the front of the checkout line and find that the merchant rejects the payment option they have chosen. But, we’re confident that because of the strength of the MasterCard brand and the value proposition it brings to merchants, consumers will find that the vast majority of merchants will continue to choose to accept their MasterCard-branded debit cards,” Hanft said.
As announced when MasterCard signed the initial Memorandum of Understanding in April, MasterCard’s key consumer protections prohibiting merchants from surcharging cardholders or discriminating against any MasterCard card or cardholder will be maintained for credit and charge cards. Those protections will be honored by merchants who continue to accept MasterCard debit cards. Merchants will have the right to choose not to accept U.S. - issued MasterCard debit cards, and under the terms of the agreement, MasterCard is free to establish an Honor All Cards rule for MasterCard debit cards.
The final agreement is subject to court review and approval.