Visa and Mastercard are reportedly close to a settlement with U.S. merchants that would lower the fees stores pay and give them more control over which credit cards they accept.

This was disclosed in a report by The Wall Street Journal on Saturday, citing people familiar with the discussions.

Under the proposed agreement, the two payment companies would reduce interchange fees, usually between 2 per cent and 2.5 per cent per transaction, by about one-tenth of a percentage point on average over several years.

They would also relax current rules requiring merchants that accept one type of card from a network to accept all its cards.

The settlement, expected to be finalized soon, would classify card acceptance into categories such as rewards, non-rewards, and commercial cards, according to the report. The move aims to end a legal dispute that has been ongoing since 2005.

The talks follow last year’s estimated $30 billion settlement in which both companies agreed to cap merchant fees, cutting swipe rates by at least 0.04 percentage points for three years and maintaining the average rate seven basis points below the current level for five years.

Both firms denied any wrongdoing at the time.

Merchants have long alleged that Visa and Mastercard charge excessive swipe, or interchange, fees on card transactions and prevent them through “anti-steering” rules from encouraging customers to use cheaper payment methods.

The latest settlement discussions also reportedly involve rules on surcharging, The Wall Street Journal added.