NEW YORK – With the number of retailers objecting to the $7 billion antitrust settlement growing, J.C. Penney, Macy’s and Target claim MasterCard and Visa are monopolizing profits at their expense, Forbes reports.

The lawsuit comes on the heels of the National Retail Federation’s statement that it will oppose the settlement, joining Walmart and NACS, among other groups and businesses, in rejecting the settlement. Tuesday is the deadline set by U.S. District Judge John Gleeson for objections to the settlement.

These retailers point out the settlement will usher in an even worse relationship between businesses and Visa and MasterCard because the settlement neglected to ensure the credit-card firms would change the practices that triggered the lawsuit-settlement in the first place. Credit card companies generate $40 billion annually through swipe fees.

NACS is both opting out and objecting to the proposed settlement because it fails to modify the price-fixing and other anti-competitive activities of Visa, MasterCard and their card-issuing banks in order to bring competition to this broken market. 

While retailers might get a couple of months’ worth of their fees back through the settlement, their swipe fees would likely increase by more than the dollars they would receive before they even receive a single penny from the settlement fund. Worse, the proposed settlement requires class members to release Visa and MasterCard from liability, forever, for any anticompetitive rules currently in place (including the interchange or swipe fee rules) and/or any "substantially similar rules" instituted at any time in the future. Visit merchantsobject.com for more information.