Mastercard, Visa Facing Antitrust Litigation Settlement Worth Billions

The US District Court, Eastern District of New York has preliminarily approved a proposed settlement of up to $6.24 billion and not less than $5.54 billion in a class-action lawsuit. The lawsuit claims that merchants paid excessive fees to accept Visa and Mastercard cards because Visa and Mastercard, individually, and together with their respective member banks, violated antitrust laws. This could be an opportunity for you to receive compensation from the settlement.

What does this mean for you?

If you accepted Visa and/or Mastercard branded cards in the US between January 1, 2004, and January 25, 2019, you are a member of the settlement class with few exceptions. For more information, check www.PaymentCardSettlement.com.

What should you do?

You must file a claim to recover money from the settlement.

If the court approves the settlement, you should receive a claim form in the mail or by email unless you have opted out. The Fairness Hearing is at 10 AM Eastern on November 7th, 2019. There is no definitive time frame for the court to make its decision. Claim forms will be sent/made available when the court renders its decision.

If you don’t receive a form, it does not mean you are a not member of the settlement class. There are other ways to file a claim without a form.

Your options for filing a claim

Option 1: You can file the claim yourself.

The Class Administrator will have data from the Defendants which will allow it to estimate the value of interchange fees attributable to each Authorized Claimant. If the data is not available or if you dispute the data, you will need to submit information in support of your claim.

What does this cost? Other than your time or staff time, this process should not generate an expense.

Option 2: Utilize a firm that specializes in claim recovery work for class action settlements.

While there is a lot of money on the line, many details of the proposed settlement are unclear. If you are a member of the settlement class, be sure to stay updated on the latest announcements in this case.