07:50 AM EDT, 07/01/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Visa (V) and Mastercard ( MA ) can likely handle a "substantially" bigger settlement with merchants who said they overpaid on the credit card firms' swipe fees, a federal judge said Friday, according to media reports.

"Without evidence of Visa's and Mastercard's ( MA ) profitability, the court cannot say with certainty that defendants can withstand a greater judgment; however, the evidence strongly suggests that they could withstand a substantially greater judgment," US District Judge Margo Brodie wrote in an opinion, according to Reuters.

Brodie recently rejected a $30 billion settlement, which would also have lowered swipe fees, but she reportedly wrote that the estimated $6 billion of annual savings for merchants from the settlement is "paltry" compared to the estimated $100 billion that they overpaid in swipe fees.

Mastercard ( MA ) told MT Newswires in an emailed statement that the decision was "surprising" and "unexpected."

"We believe the settlement would have provided millions of business owners substantial certainty and enormous value in how they manage their card acceptance activities," Mastercard ( MA ) said.

Visa did not immediately respond to MT Newswires' requests for comment.

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