Visa & Mastercard Merchant Fee Settlement

In 2005, a lawsuit was filed regarding the interchange fees charged to merchants that accepted Visa or Mastercard credit or debit cards between Jan. 1, 2004, and Jan. 25, 2019. This case was later consolidated into: Payment Card Interchange Fee and Merchant Discount Antitrust Litigation, MDL No. 1720 (MKB) (JO), in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

The plaintiffs claimed that Visa and Mastercard violated the law because they set interchange fees, imposed and enforced rules that limited merchants from steering their customers to other payment methods, conspired about some of the business practices challenged and that the defendants’ conduct caused merchants to pay excessive fees for accepting Visa and Mastercard. Following litigation, the parties reached a settlement of approximately $5.6 billion. The parties are preparing for administration of the claims process and distribution of the settlement fund.

Any person, business or other entity that accepted any Visa- and/or Mastercard-branded cards in the United States at any time from Jan. 1, 2004, to Jan. 25, 2019, is qualified to receive a portion of this settlement.

The amount paid from the settlement fund to qualifying claimants is based on the claimant’s actual or estimated interchange fees attributable to Visa or Mastercard transactions (approximately 1% of the individual or company’s sales) from Jan. 1, 2004, through Jan. 25, 2019.

The amount of money each valid claimant will receive from the settlement fund depends on the money available to pay all claims, the total dollar value of the valid claims, the cost of administration, taxes, attorneys’ fees and costs, and class incentive awards.

The class administrator will provide an estimate of the claimant’s total value of interchange fees, which will be used to determine actual damages.

The claimant would then be entitled to a pro-rata share of the settlement fund based on their actual damages. There is also a mechanism to challenge the damage determination, should that be necessary.

There is no cost to file a claim.

If you have the time and resources, you can file a claim yourself. The next section will show you how.

Alternatively, we can file your claim for you as your authorized representative and we’re only compensated 10% if and when your claim is paid.

You have 2 options:

Option 1: File A Claim Yourself .There is no cost to file yourself.

Step 1. You need to locate the claimant case number letter

Step 2. You’ll need to locate the Tax ID Number for your business along with the company name, address, city state zip code.

Step 3. You’ll need to log into the claimant portal to track the status of your claim and to respond to any questions and provide supporting documentation as requested by the claimant administrator.

Option 2: You authorize us to handle your claim for you. You pay only a small 10% fee if your claim is paid.

Step 1. Click the HELP ME FILE MY CLAIM button below.

Step 2. Complete the claim authorization online form and success fee agreement.

We handle all claimant administrator communication and track your claim status, reporting to you throughout the settlement process.