Every time you swipe your credit card, whether for a coffee or a new couch, the store pays a fee to the credit card company and the bank that issues the card. Retailers have long complained about these fees. 

Now after a decades-long legal battle, merchants nationwide struck a deal with Visa and Mastercard. The proposed settlement announced today would temporarily trim some fees received by banks by 0.1 percentage points. Those fees now average around 2%.

And, credit card rewards fans, listen up here: the settlement would also allow retailers to reject some rewards cards, which carry higher swipe fees. Still, not all merchants are happy with the deal. 

If you haven’t followed the ins and outs of this now 20-year dispute, here’s a quick summary.

“This lawsuit is a long, strange trip,” said Doug Kantor, general counsel for the National Association of Convenience Stores.

Merchants first sued Visa and Mastercard in 2005, alleging they conspired with banks to set high swipe fees, which merchants either had to eat or pass on to customers.

“We all pay these fees. It inflates the cost of almost everything we buy,” Kantor said.

A judge rejected a previous deal and assigned court-appointed lawyers to the merchants to reach this new agreement, which Kantor said they weren’t thrilled about. So, what does this deal mean for credit card use?

“My guess is not a whole lot changes,” said David Koning, a payments analyst with Baird.

He said even though merchants could now reject rewards cards with high swipe fees, they may not want to. 

“On average those who have high rewards cards are generally more affluent and probably spend a lot more, and most merchants are not gonna wanna deny a high spender at the point of sale,” Koning said.

That puts small business owners in a bind, said Erika Polmar, who heads the Independent Restaurant Coalition. She said the vast majority of consumers use rewards cards. 

“And if you own a restaurant, you feel this pain every single day. Swipe fees are one of our highest operating costs after labor, and they've quadrupled since 2010,” Polmar said.

Polmar said this deal doesn’t come close to fixing that. Swipe fees in the U.S. are still among the highest in the world. 

“The relief is really sort of a drop in the bucket,” Polmar said.

Groups representing the banks and credit cards, though, disagree.

“Both sides had to give in. So therefore, we think it is a very good deal for both the merchants and the financial services industry,” said Richard Hunt, who chairs the Electronic Payments Coalition.

The judge still has to approve the new settlement. Which, based on the long and winding history of this case, is no sure thing.