Mastercard denies report of plans to raise credit card fees

(Reuters) -Mastercard on Tuesday denied a media report saying the payments processing giant is planning to increase the fees that merchants are charged when their customers use credit cards to pay.

The Wall Street Journal, citing sources and documents it had viewed, reported last week that fee increases were scheduled to start in October and April at Mastercard (NYSE:) and rival Visa (NYSE:).

“Mastercard is not raising interchange rates in the U.S. this fall and has no plans to do so,” the company said. It is also not raising network fees in the U.S. required for the processing of Mastercard transactions this fall, the firm added.

Visa also said in a blog post that recent press coverage on the issue was “misleading”, and that despite strong growth in the use of its cards, overall interchange fees on Visa transactions have been flat for the past decade.

“Moreover, over the past few years, Visa has lowered interchange for the vast majority of small businesses and in key segments such as supermarkets and quick service restaurants,” a Visa spokesperson said in an emailed statement to Reuters.

“We stand by our reporting,” the Wall Street Journal said in a statement to Reuters.