Visa and Mastercard Interchange Fee Settlement Nears Conclusion
In recent weeks, Visa and Mastercard wrapped up the remaining card interchange disputes with roughly five dozen retailers in an antitrust matter that had been slated for trial this month.
The final individual accord arrived this week, when Circle K owner Alimentation Couche-Tard resolved its damages claims against the networks in a New York lawsuit first filed in June 2013.
On Wednesday, Judge Alvin Hellerstein, sitting in federal court in Manhattan, closed the case after Amtrak, Nike, Crate & Barrel, Dick’s Sporting Goods, and other merchants finalized deals over the past six weeks. Across multiple settlement waves spanning the past decade, about 65 merchants in total have been covered in the New York action.
Chicago Proceedings and Ongoing Talks
A separate cohort of plaintiffs, led by Grubhub Holdings, is negotiating with the defendants, according to the docket following a conference with the court last month. Trial is set for Sept. 14 in Chicago, with Judge Edmond Chang presiding.
The court strongly urges the parties to accelerate settlement discussions as quickly as possible and set another status hearing for May 26, he wrote on March 24.
Roughly 28 named plaintiffs are included in the Chicago filing, a subset of an estimated 12 million merchants in the United States that have pursued damages from the card networks and issuing banks over allegedly inflated fees on card transactions.
Lawyers for the retailer group at Constantine Cannon and at Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease in Columbus, Ohio, declined to discuss the New York resolutions. Shinder Cantor Lerner, which also represents some merchants, did not reply to requests for comment.
Visa Share Exchange and Settlement Funding
In a related corporate step, Visa announced a share exchange for its Class B stock, largely held by banks and credit unions to fund merchant litigation costs; that structure dates back to Visa’s March 2008 initial public offering.
The latest exchange—the second since 2024—signals progress in resolving claims, Baird Equity Research analyst David Koning said, estimating that Visa has likely addressed claims tied to more than 90% of its payments volume.
Visa disclosed that between Oct. 1, 2023, and March 31, 2026, it paid out $4.2 billion from a litigation escrow in connection with settlements, according to a regulatory filing describing the offer.
The company added that those disbursements have cut by about half the interchange reimbursement amounts still disputed in remaining damages matters in the United States.
A Visa spokesperson on Wednesday declined to comment on either the merchant deals or the litigation fund, and a Mastercard representative had no immediate response.
Broader Antitrust Context and Class Relief
Merchants in the New York and Chicago proceedings opted out in 2012–2013 of an earlier roughly $7 billion resolution to pursue their own damage claims in district court. Separate from money damages, a companion case involving many of the same plaintiffs continues in Brooklyn over prospective injunctive relief for the class.
A proposed deal in that injunctive case is set for discussion at an April 27 hearing. An earlier bid for injunctive relief was rejected in June 2024 for failing to treat large and small merchants on equal footing.
Payment Card Interchange Fee Settlement: Practical Guidance
What Is the Visa/Mastercard Payment Card Interchange Fee Settlement?
“Payment card interchange” cases generally stem from merchant allegations that Visa and Mastercard network rules, along with participating banks, resulted in interchange fees being set or maintained at unlawfully high levels. The litigation described here involves merchants pursuing damages in federal court, including opt-out plaintiffs who chose to bring their own claims rather than remain in an earlier class resolution.
In the New York action, the disputes were resolved through a series of individual settlements over time, culminating in the court closing the case after the most recent agreements.
What Is the Current Status of the Payment Card Interchange Fee Settlement?
The New York damages action discussed above has been closed by Judge Alvin Hellerstein following the latest wave of settlements.
Separately, the Chicago case remains active, with settlement negotiations referenced on the docket and a trial date set for Sept. 14. The companion injunctive-relief matter in Brooklyn has a proposed deal scheduled for discussion at an April 27 hearing.
Is the Payment Card Interchange Fee Settlement Legitimate?
The proceedings described are legitimate, court-supervised antitrust cases in federal court, reflected in the official docket and overseen by sitting judges. In the New York action, the court formally closed the case after the parties resolved the remaining claims.
For any classwide relief—particularly injunctive relief—legitimacy and enforceability typically depend on the court’s approval process, which occurs on the record in the case and may involve hearings such as the April 27 proceeding referenced above.
A legitimate settlement is one that appears on the federal court docket and, when class members’ rights are affected, is implemented only through the court’s approval process and enforceable orders.
Who Is Eligible for the Visa, Mastercard Settlement?
Eligibility depends on which case and which settlement is being discussed. The New York and Chicago matters referenced here involve specific named merchants (and groups of merchants) bringing damages claims, including merchants that opted out of an earlier class resolution.
In contrast, the separate Brooklyn matter concerns prospective injunctive relief for a class. If you received a notice about a class case, eligibility is usually defined by whether a business accepted Visa and/or Mastercard cards and paid interchange-related charges during the time period specified in the court-approved notice and settlement documents.
How Much Will I Get From the Payment Card Settlement?
In damages settlements, payout amounts are commonly determined by a formula tied to documented card volume, the interchange-related fees paid, the number of valid claims submitted, and any allocation rules approved in the case. Larger-volume merchants typically have larger calculated amounts than smaller merchants, but final payments can be reduced or adjusted based on the overall settlement terms and the claims that are ultimately validated.
Because the New York matter involved individual merchant agreements and the Chicago case remains pending, there is no single, uniform payout figure described here; outcomes can range from relatively modest amounts for lower-volume claimants to substantially larger figures for higher-volume merchants, depending on the specific settlement terms.
If I Received a Notice About the Settlement, What Should I Do?
Read the notice carefully and match it to the case caption, court, and judge listed in the notice. If the notice is legitimate, it should point to official case information and provide the required steps and deadlines in plain terms.
If anything seems inconsistent—such as demands for immediate payment, requests for unrelated sensitive information, or instructions that do not align with the court or case details—use the case information in the notice to verify it against the federal court docket before taking action.
If I Am Eligible, What Are My Options for the Settlement?
Your options depend on the specific settlement and whether it is a class proceeding. Typical options can include submitting a claim (when money is being distributed through a claims process), objecting to aspects of a proposed class settlement, or excluding yourself when opt-out rights are available.
The notice governing the particular settlement controls which options are available and when they must be exercised.
How Do I File a Claim for the Visa and Mastercard Settlement?
If a settlement provides for claims, the process is typically set out in the official notice and may be handled by a settlement administrator. In general, the steps include confirming the covered time period and eligibility definition; collecting business identifying information used by your payment processor; gathering supporting records such as processing statements (or other documentation specified in the notice); completing the claim form; and submitting it in the manner required (often electronically or by mail, as described in the notice).
Keep copies of what you submit, along with any confirmation or tracking information, in case the administrator requests clarification.
When Should I Act Regarding the Visa and Mastercard Settlement?
Act according to the deadlines stated in any court-authorized notice you receive, and track upcoming court dates that may affect timing, such as the May 26 status hearing referenced in the Chicago docket and the April 27 hearing on the proposed injunctive deal.
Missing a deadline can mean losing the ability to submit a claim, object, or take whatever action the notice allows.
What Are Interchange Fees, and Why Is This a Class Action Lawsuit?
Interchange fees are charges associated with card transactions that are routed through the card networks and paid through the payments chain, commonly reflected as part of the overall “swipe fee” merchants experience when accepting cards.
These disputes have been litigated as class actions because the challenged practices were alleged to affect a very large number of merchants in similar ways, making collective treatment a common mechanism for addressing shared legal and factual issues—while still allowing some merchants, as noted here, to opt out and pursue their own cases.