A settlement associated with ATM fees levied by Visa and Mastercard may entitle more than 175 million Americans to payouts. A class action lawsuit accusing Visa and Mastercard of maintaining inflated ATM fees has been settled for USD 197.5 million. More than 18.5 million American retailers that accepted Visa and Mastercard payments over a 15-year span began receiving class-action claim forms late last year. Lawyers for the retailers are already speculating as to how many of them may file claims for compensation in advance of an impending deadline.
The $5.5 billion settlement, that largely settled a protracted antitrust action in which the two credit card network companies were accused of overcharging retailers by collecting exorbitant interchange fees, before the mailing of the claim forms. Here you will get to know Eligibility to get the Visa and Mastercard Settlement Amount 2024, so check this page now.
Visa and Mastercard Multimillionaire Settlement
A recent lawsuit alleging that company owners were paid exorbitant fees was resolved by Visa and Mastercard. Through January 1, 2004, to January 25, 2019, company owners will be able to collect their share of these high costs thanks to this settlement. On May 29, the preliminary permission was filed with the Washington, DC District Court, and it is still pending court approval. Anybody who has to pay a charge to withdraw cash from a bank-operated ATM in the US is covered by the settlement.
The court determined that since Visa and Mastercard broke antitrust rules, merchants overpaid interchange fees. As a result, the court imposed a preliminary settlement for merchants that took Visa and Mastercard ranging from $5.54 billion to $6.24 billion. August 30, 2024 is the cutoff date for claiming the settlement payment and you should check below to know Deadline and Process to claim Visa and Mastercard lawsuit Compensation 2024.
Visa and Mastercard lawsuit 2024 Details
| Post Title | Visa and Mastercard Multimillionaire Settlement |
| Country | USA |
| Deadline | August 30, 2024 |
| Website to claim | paymentcardsettlement.com/en |
How much will you get from this lawsuit?
- A class-action lawsuit was brought against Visa and Mastercard in 2005, claiming that the companies colluded to enforce regulations that restricted or prevented merchants from encouraging customers to pick alternative payment methods, while still charging excessive interchange fees to merchants.
- Customers using Visa and Mastercard who have taken cash out of ATMs run by banks since 2007 were covered by the settlement. The proposed settlement still needs to be approved by the court in the end. Visa will pay $104.6 million and Mastercard will pay $92.8 million as per the settlement agreement. Notably, neither of the payment processors acknowledged any wrongdoing.
- The Visa and Mastercard Multimillionaire Settlement 2024 Deadline to submit claims is coming closer. “Any persons, businesses, and other entities that have accepted any Visa-Branded Cards and/or Mastercard-Branded Cards in the United States at any time from January 1, 2004 to January 25, 2019” is the class’s wide definition.
Eligibility to get the Settlement Amount
- For every business that operated in the United States and took Visa and Mastercard between January 1, 2004, and January 25, 2019, a portion of the settlement could be accessible. Millions of companies that might be included in a $5.5 billion settlement have a limited amount of time remaining.
- Companies who have complied with their interchange fee requirements throughout this period are qualified to be paid. Anyone who received mail between December 23 and January 24 can submit a compensation claim by using the claim form.
- Once all claims have been received and validated, the amount of each business’s compensation will be decided; only those businesses who make a claim by the deadline will receive money from the settlement.
Deadline and Process to claim
A recent extension of the claim deadline was made, moving it from May 31 to August 30, 2024. To get your share of the settlement, if you fit the class description, you have until August 30, 2024, to submit your claim. You won’t be compensated if your claim is not submitted in a timely manner.
- Since the administrator of the settlement has access to the underlying credit card processing data, they are often able to identify class members and the amount of interchange fees they have paid on their transactions by sorting by merchant.
- You were supposed to get your claim form in December 2023, when they were mailed. Should a class member possess their claim form, the document would furnish them with a unique identity, enabling them to finalize their claim through the claims website.
- It’s probable that a large number of class participants never received their claim form. For instance, the company relocated, names were changed, it closed, the claim form was not sent to the right person, etc.
- Even if a class member is missing their claim form, they can still visit the website, select “Submit a Claim,” enter their TIN, and present identification that proves they are a company. The claimant should have a W-9 ready to upload and submit. This should work.
- The claimant may provide documentation to confirm the merchant’s name and address, such as a merchant statement or utility bill, along with their tax ID number, if they are unable to produce a W-9 for whatever reason.
- You can file claims via paymentcardsettlement.com/en and to finalize your claim, visit the website and find the Merchant Portal Login/Create Account page.
- Anticipate a delay in payment as the administrator must perform several computations prior to disbursing funds. The quantity of money will be determined by the quantity of legitimate claims that are filed, and processing and verifying claims may take many months or more.
- There is a method on the website for merchants to dispute processing numbers if they believe they are inaccurate. By the deadline, this challenge must be turned in with the claim.
Peter H David is a finance graduate who has been active in the field since 2015. He enjoys writing about stimulus programs, social security, and other U.S. finance topics to help Americans better understand their finances.