(NewsNation) — Visa and Mastercard have reached a proposed settlement in a long-running legal fight with merchants and retailers that could determine which credit cards stores accept and whether shoppers face additional surcharges at checkout.

The deal, which still requires court approval, would slightly reduce interchange, or “swipe,” fees — the charges merchants pay each time a customer uses their card. It would also modify a long-standing rule that dictates which credit cards merchants must accept.

If approved, those changes could have ripple effects for consumers, who may find their preferred credit card no longer accepted — or face new fees at checkout.

Swipe fees are a major source of revenue for Visa and Mastercard, which collected a record $111 billion from them last year, according to the National Retail Federation, the largest U.S. retail trade group.

The NRF criticized the settlement in a statement, arguing that the proposed 0.1% reduction in swipe fees doesn’t go far enough.

“Once again, this proposal is all window dressing and no substance,” said Stephanie Martz, NRF chief administrative officer and general counsel.

A spokesperson for Mastercard told NewsNation the settlement represents “the best resolution for all parties” and said it will provide smaller merchants with “more acceptance choices, reduced costs and simplified rules.” Visa did not respond to a request for comment.

Here’s what the proposed deal could mean for consumers.

Will my credit card still be accepted?

There’s a chance merchants could eventually accept a narrower range of credit cards, leaving consumers fewer ways to pay.

The proposed settlement would modify the “honor all cards” rule — a longstanding policy that requires merchants to accept every Visa or Mastercard product if they accept one.

That rule has long been a source of tension because not all cards carry the same fees. Premium rewards cards, which have grown increasingly popular among consumers, can cost merchants more to process — as much as 4% in interchange fees, according to the Merchants Payment Coalition.

Under the new agreement, retailers would gain more flexibility to reject higher-fee cards, potentially easing costs and giving them more leverage in negotiations over processing expenses.

For shoppers, that could mean digging through their wallets to find a credit card the store is willing to take.

“It could be an issue for consumers, many of whom don’t really know the particulars of the card they’re carrying,” said Sara Rathner, a credit card expert at NerdWallet.

Still, rewards cards are popular and help drive spending, so merchants are unlikely to stop accepting them altogether.

“That’s just going to turn off customers,” said Ted Rossman, senior industry analyst at Bankrate.

The proposed deal would effectively dismantle the “honor all cards” rule in principle, but it wouldn’t let merchants pick and choose individual high-fee cards. Instead, it would create three new categories, allowing merchants to decide whether to accept or reject rewards cards as a group.

“[The proposal] ignores the fact that 85% of cards issued today are rewards cards and that merchants have no choice but to accept them,” said Jennifer Hatcher, an executive committee member of the Merchants Payment Coalition, in a statement calling for the settlement to be rejected.

The NRF said the change in the honor all cards rule “would accomplish nothing.”

Will there be more credit card surcharges?

Your favorite pizza shop will probably still take your preferred credit card, but you may be more likely to see a surcharge tacked on.

That’s because the proposed settlement would give merchants more options to impose those fees on credit card transactions — something more than a third of small businesses already do, according to J.D. Power.

“I do think we’ll see more surcharging,” Rossman said.

Over time, some businesses will absorb the costs of higher-fee rewards cards, while others may build those expenses into their prices, Rathner noted.

“As a consumer, you almost feel like you don’t really have too much power in this situation,” she said.

But consumers do speak with their wallets, and any uptick in surcharging is likely to meet pushback.

Will credit card rewards get slashed?

Americans love their credit card rewards — 80% of consumers have a card that offers them — but lower swipe fees could change the math around those benefits for Visa and Mastercard.

“Anything that limits interchange revenue could cut into rewards,” Rossman said.

Recent research from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found that banks, on average, pass about 86% of their interchange income to card users in the form of rewards.

Those perks — which can range from cash-back bonuses and airline miles to airport lounge access or dining credits on premium cards — have expanded in recent years.

Rossman noted that other card-related costs, such as annual renewal fees, foreign transaction fees and late fees, are levers card issuers could pull instead of cutting back on rewards.

Meanwhile, the NRF says swipe fees have become most retailers’ highest operating cost after labor, driving up consumer prices by nearly $1,200 a year for the average household.

“If the courts can’t fix this, it’s time for Congress to take action,” Martz said in the NRF statement.

In the end, Rossman thinks the proposed settlement, which only marginally lowers swipe fees, is likely to maintain the status quo on credit card rewards — a result he considers a win for consumers.

“It’s not a perfect system, but I would say that preserving the reward system is a good thing for consumers,” he said.