Visa Inc and MasterCard Inc have reached a settlement with merchants over a long-running antitrust lawsuit over credit card fees, according to the Wall Street Journal. Under the settlement agreement, Visa Inc, MasterCard Inc and a number of debit and credit card issuing banks, including JPMorgan Chase & Co, Citigroup and Bank of America Corporation, will pay about $6.5 billion to the merchants, according to people familiar with the matter. It is not clear how the credit card dealers and the card-issuing banks will share the money.

The two sides informed the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York on Tuesday that they reached a settlement, people familiar with the matter said. People familiar with the matter added that they planned to draft a draft agreement by mid-July and submit a final agreement to the court by mid-August.

The case is a controversial one for merchants and has sparked a debate about whether the credit card charging model is enduring. The focus of the debate is the payment mode set by the credit card network and the fees that merchants pay to banks when consumers use credit cards to make purchases. Businessmen claim that the Internet colluded with banks to drive up these fees.

In 2005, merchants first filed class action lawsuits against Visa Inc, MasterCard Inc and the largest card issuer in the United States. But many big merchants chose to abandon the initial $7.25 billion settlement reached in 2012, mainly because the provisions would prohibit them from suing for future increases in credit card fees. The Court of Appeal invalidated the settlement on the grounds that the businessman was not adequately represented. The Supreme Court refused to hear the case last year and resubmitted it to the district court.

About $5 billion of the original settlement is still in custody and, if approved by the court, will be allocated as part of the new settlement, according to people familiar with the matter.

Businesses that agree to the settlement will not be able to sue the credit card network with the same credit card fees in the next few years, according to people familiar with the matter. Businesses that do not agree to the terms of the settlement can opt out and sue the Internet themselves, people familiar with the matter said.

Including The Home Depot Inc (HomeDepot Inc.) And Amazon.Com Inc (Amazon.com Inc.) Several big businesses have filed separate lawsuits over these fees. One of the conditions that merchants are challenging is the card network's "respect for all cards" requirements. The rule forbids merchants to choose between online credit cards; for example, merchants who accept one Visa Inc credit card must accept all Visa Inc credit cards. The cost of swiping a card varies greatly among different network cards, and it is even higher on cards with rich incentive programs.

This week, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld American Express Co (AmericanExpress Co.) Merchants who accept American Express cards are prohibited from offering discounts or other incentives to shoppers to use cheaper cards, which makes them suffer huge losses. The court's ruling is a setback to the broader ambition of merchants to bear the cost of paying for credit cards.

(this article is produced by Futu compilation team, editor / Jiang Wenwen)