Visa and Mastercard near settlement with merchants, would lower fees, WSJ reports

(Reuters) -U.S. payment firms Visa and Mastercard are nearing a settlement with merchants by lowering fees stores pay and giving them more power to reject certain credit cards, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday, citing people familiar with matter. Visa and Mastercard would trim interchange fees, typically 2% to 2.5% per transaction, by an average of about a tenth of a percentage point over several years, the Journal reported citing sources. The companies would also ease rules that currently require merchants accepting one network credit card type to accept all of them. Mastercard and Visa declined a Reuters request for comment. Reuters could not immediately verify the report. The deal, which is expected soon, would divide credit-card acceptance into several categories such as re