Case Description
The State sued Visa and Mastercard claiming the companies used their market power in general credit cards to force merchants to accept their branded debit cards. The high cost of accepting the branded debit cards forced retailers to charge consumers more for goods purchased. As a settlement, Visa paid $9.3 million and MasterCard paid $2.3 million to state, which was used to fund a tax holiday on Energy Star products, and a total of $600,000 to the Attorney General’s revolving fund.