Alleged anticompetitive practices has resulted in a lawsuit against Visa, MasterCard, and American Express from the Department of Justice.  A settlement has be reached between MasterCard and Visa but the lawsuit continues with American Express.  Before the agreements, merchants were not allowed to provide discounts to its customers for using a different card brand or payment forms.  Such practices were believed to inhibit competition and results in higher prices for consumers.  Though Visa and MasterCard had agreed to be more lenient in this practice, American Express continues to fight the rulings.

Everyone besides the three credit cards affected by the rulings stands to benefit from these new changes.  One company that may see the most gains would be Discover who was not part of the negotiations.  Discover still has a small enough market share of the industry to benefit from the increase in completion. 

The advantages towards merchants are also obvious.  A greater profit is expected if retailers provide more incentives to consumers for using a payment median with lower interchange fees.

Though the new rulings will greatly impact credit card usage and practices, the new regulations do not apply to cash purchases.  The Department of Justice's stance only prohibit discounts for particular forms, types, or brands of the same payment type.  An earlier financial regulations bill, if passed, should give merchants the option of cash discounts.

The Department of Justice's anticompetitive issues with American Express is unusual since it carries a much smaller market share compared to Visa and MasterCard.  Attorney General Eric Holder explained, "because of American Express's current rules, some consumers will continue to pay higher prices.  That is unacceptable, so we will continue to pursue litigation against American Express until we ensure a fair market for every consumer." 
 
Conflictingly, Robin Sidel and Thomas Catan from the Wall Street Journal wrote, "cards that are branded with the Visa and MasterCard logos make up about three-quarters of the market for plastic. American Express executives believe that the company's smaller market share will bolster its argument to the Justice Department that its policies aren't anticompetitive, say people familiar with the negotiations."

The biggest benefactors to these new rules seems to be consumers who often pay with cash.  Though credit card companies will have to lower interchange fees to stay competitive, they may also reduce rewards  programs or initiate maintenance fees to offset their revenue losses.