The National Lumber and Building Material Dealers Association (NLBMDA) joined nearly 1,000 businesses and trade groups urging a federal court to reject a proposed Visa and Mastercard swipe fee settlement.
Earlier this month, the association signed a letter filed with U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan in the long-running antitrust case. The 978 signers argue the deal offers merchants too little, too temporary relief while broadly restricting future legal challenges.
Under the deal, Visa and Mastercard would lower their combined average interchange rate across the system by 10 basis points for five years and cap standard consumer card rates at 1.25 percent. Merchants would also gain more room to refuse certain premium cards, surcharge credit card transactions and form buying groups.
NLBMDA and other merchant groups say the changes leave core cost and competition concerns unresolved, while the deal would bar class members, for an extended period, from seeking certain injunctive or equitable relief.
The court granted preliminary approval in June and has set a fairness hearing for November 16.
On September 9, President Trump again called for lower swipe fees, his third public push for reform this year. NLBMDA backs the bipartisan Credit Card Competition Act, which would require the largest card-issuing banks to enable routing over at least two unaffiliated payment networks.