Payment Card Interchange Fee and Merchant Discount Antitrust Litigation

June 2014 - The lawsuit regarding the claim that merchants paid excessive fees to accept Visa and MasterCard cards because they allegedly violated antitrust laws has been settled effective 12/13/13. 

Although the settlement has not been funded, Cash Management is working with Bank of America Merchant Services to calculate the basis of our merchants’ claim.  The claim will be based on the merchant’s Visa and MasterCard sales volume during the claim period of 1/1/2004 – 11/28/12 as well as the amount of interchange paid during the eight months starting 7/29/13.

We are currently waiting for the Court to approve the claim form for merchants to submit and will update you as the settlement process continues.  Merchants should expect to receive settlements prorated based on their sales volume during the claim period. (CLICK HERE TO READ MORE (https://www.paymentcardsettlement.com/en) …)

The monetary potion of the settlement consists of two funds:  1. $6.05 billion that will pay claims of any merchant that accepted Visa or MasterCard branded credit or debit cards in the US between 1/1/2004 – 11/28/12 and, 2. Estimated to be up to approximately $1.2 billion and is equivalent to a portion of the interchange fees attributable to merchants that accepted Visa or MasterCard credit cards during the time period 7/29/13 - 3/28/14.