If you accepted credit cards at your business between 2004 and 2019, you probably have received a notice regarding a class action antitrust lawsuit between merchants & card brands.
We have been receiving questions from our clients and wanted to sum it up for you. This is good news for your business because you are most likely eligible for reimbursement from the suit’s settlement.
What Happened?
In 2005, the plaintiffs, a group of businesses, made the following claims:
- Visa, and its respective member banks, including the Bank Defendants, violated the law because they set interchange fees.
- Mastercard and its respective member banks, including the Bank Defendants, violated the law because they set interchange fees.
- Visa and its respective member banks, including the Bank Defendants, violated the law because they imposed and enforced rules that limited merchants from steering their customers to other payment methods. Those rules include so-called no-surcharge rules, no-discounting rules, honor-all-cards rules, and certain other rules. Doing so insulated them from competitive pressure to lower the interchange fees.
- Mastercard and its respective member banks, including the Bank Defendants, violated the law because they imposed and enforced rules that limited merchants from steering their customers to other payment methods. Those rules include so-called no-surcharge rules, no-discounting rules, honor-all-cards rules, and certain other rules. Doing so insulated them from competitive pressure to lower the interchange fees.
- Visa and Mastercard conspired together about some of the business practices challenged.
- Visa and its respective member banks continued in those activities despite the fact that Visa changed its corporate structure and became a publicly owned corporation after this case was filed.
- Mastercard and its respective member banks continued in those activities despite the fact that Mastercard changed its corporate structure and became a publicly owned corporation after this case was filed.
- The Defendants’ conduct caused the merchants to pay excessive interchange fees for accepting Visa and Mastercard cards.
- But for Defendants’ conduct there would have been no interchange fee or those fees would have been lower.
What This Means For You
With the courts ruling in favor of the plaintiffs, You may be able to get a portion of your fees for accepting card payments back. How much? From the website paymentcardsettlement.com
“The amount paid from the settlement fund will be based on your actual or estimated interchange fees attributable to Visa and Mastercard card transactions (between you and your customers) from January 1, 2004, through January 25, 2019.
The amount of money each Authorized Claimant will receive from the settlement fund depends on the money available to pay all claims, the total dollar value of all valid claims filed, the cost of class administration and notice, applicable taxes on the settlement fund and any other related tax expenses, attorneys’ fees and expenses, and money awards to the Rule 23(b)(3) Class Plaintiffs for their representation of merchants in MDL 1720, which culminated in the Class Settlement Agreement, all as approved by the Court”
Will My Payment Processor Help Me?
Your current payment processor may have sent you information on how to proceed but that’s the extent of their abilities. For detailed instructions on how to file a claim visit https://www.paymentcardsettlement.com
If you’re tired of paying fees then it’s time to consider our compliant Dual Pricing program. Contact us today to learn more.
