A proposed class action lawsuit filed on September 30, 2026, by San Diego pizzeria Pizza Standard LLC accuses Visa Inc., Mastercard Incorporated, and several of the nation's largest banks of conspiring to artificially inflate the fees merchants pay to accept credit cards.
According to the 134‑page complaint, the defendants have maintained uniform interchange‑fee schedules and enforced a 'web of anticompetitive rules' that require merchants accepting any Visa or Mastercard card to honor all such cards, block surcharges or steering toward lower‑cost payment options, and eliminate any incentive for issuing banks to compete on price, thereby allowing the alleged scheme to generate over $100 billion in annual fees described as a deadweight toll on virtually every credit‑card purchase in America.
The lawsuit notes that a December 2019 settlement resolved claims for transactions through January 24, 2019, providing upward of $5 billion but leaving merchants who processed Visa and Mastercard cards after that date without compensation; it seeks to represent all U.S. entities that have accepted Visa‑ or Mastercard‑branded cards since January 25, 2019, and argues that the ongoing conduct leaves millions without remedy for their alleged injuries.