NEW YORK - Visa Inc, Mastercard Inc and banks issuing their credit cards have agreed to pay up to $7.25 billion and allow stores to encourage customers to use cheaper forms of payment, according to settlement papers filed on Friday in a lawsuit in Brooklyn federal court.

The settlement, if approved by a judge, would resolve dozens of lawsuits filed by retailers in 2005, accusing the companies of fixing fees for processing credit and debit card payments and prohibiting stores from steering their customers to cheaper forms of payment.