Heads up, award travelers! Visa and Mastercard are this close to settling a massive 20-year legal battle over those pesky interchange fees—the fees merchants pay when you swipe your credit card. The heart of the matter? Right now, if a store accepts one type of Visa or Mastercard, they basically have to accept all of them. This settlement would change that, meaning stores could choose NOT to accept certain cards, especially those high-rewards cards we all love (like Visa Infinite).

Why should you care? Those awesome travel rewards we rack up come at a cost, mainly through these interchange fees. Cards with richer benefits typically have higher fees. The proposed settlement includes a small average drop in interchange fees (around 0.1 percentage point), but the bigger deal is the potential for merchants to ditch certain cards altogether. If your favorite rewards card isn't accepted everywhere, you might have to rethink your spending strategy or even switch cards. This could limit your ability to earn points and miles on everyday purchases, ultimately impacting your travel hacking game. Stay tuned!