This settlement resolves longstanding merchant allegations that Visa, Mastercard, and other banks engaged in anti-competitive practices, driving up interchange fees and harming businesses across the nation.

When a cardholder purchases something with a payment card, an interchange fee of about 1-2% of the total purchase price is added to those transactions. These fees are typically the greatest part of the total fees paid by merchants for accepting Visa and Mastercard cards.

From small businesses to large corporations, the claimant class is vast. Any U.S. entity that accepted Visa or Mastercard credit or debit cards from from January 1, 2004, to January 25, 2019 is eligible.

As of August 1, 2023, the time for appeals has passed, and the parties are currently preparing for administration of the claims process. Additional details will be provided at PaymentCardSettlement.com as soon as they become available.

The calculation will take into account the interchange fees your business paid during the 15-year period, the total amount of interchange fees paid by all claimants during this period, and the total number of valid claims that are submitted. The settlement administrator will then calculate each claimant’s pro rata share of the settlement fund based on this formula. While the exact amount a merchant will receive will depend on several factors, CCC’s advanced tools and unique expertise enable us to provide a confident assessment of your claim’s worth. To learn more and have us run the numbers for you, call our specialists or send an email today.

On December 13, 2019, the Court granted Final Approval to the settlement. Claim Forms are not currently available. It is not yet known when the Court will be asked to approve a Claim Form and determine when the Claim Form needs to be sent to Class Members. In order to receive a payment, you must submit a Claim Form.

If you received a Notice in the mail, a Claim Form will be mailed, or emailed, to you automatically. The Claim Form will also be posted on this website and available by calling, 1-800-625-6440. Class members will be able to submit claims electronically using this website, by email or by returning a paper Claim Form.

The Class Administrator will have data from Defendants and others which it expects will permit it to estimate the total value of interchange fees attributable to each Authorized Claimant on its Visa and Mastercard card transactions during the period from January 1, 2004, to January 25, 2019, (“Interchange Fees Paid”). It is the current intention to utilize this data to the extent possible, to estimate the interchange fees attributable to members of the Rule 23(b)(3) Settlement Class.

Where the necessary data is not reasonably available to estimate a class member’s Interchange Fees Paid or if the Interchange Fees Paid claim value established by the Class Administrator is disputed by the class member, the class member will be required to submit information in support of its claim. This information will include, to the extent known, Interchange Fees Paid attributable to the class member, merchant discount fees paid, the class member’s merchant category code and/or a description of the class member’s business, and total Visa and Mastercard transaction volume and/or total sales volume. Based on these data, the Interchange Fees Paid attributable to the class member will be estimated for each known member of the Rule 23(b)(3) Settlement Class.

The Class Administrator also expects to provide class members the ability to access the claims website with a unique code to permit it to view the manner in which its claim value was calculated and may also provide this information on a pre-populated Claim Form. Class members may accept or disagree with data on the Claim Form or this website. The Claim Form and website will explain how to challenge the data.

The Claim Form also allows class members for whom no financial data is available or who were not identified as class members to file a claim. Those merchants will have to fill out and sign a Claim Form and return it by the deadline.

Some companies may offer to help you file your Claim Form in exchange for a portion of your recovery from the settlement. While you may choose to use such companies, you should know that you can file with the Class Administrator on your own, free of charge. Additionally, you are entitled to contact the Class Administrator or Rule 23(b)(3) Class Counsel for assistance with understanding and filing your Claim Form — again, at no cost to you. Prior orders of the Court regarding third-party claims filing companies are available for review here.

If you do not file a claim, you cannot get money from this settlement.

If you did not exclude yourself from the Rule 23(b)(3) Settlement Class, you cannot be part of any other lawsuit against Defendants and other released parties listed in the Rule 23(b)(3) Class Settlement Agreement for released conduct. You will be bound by the Rule 23(b)(3) Settlement Class Release, except that as to the declaratory and injunctive relief claims asserted in the pending proposed Rule 23(b)(2) class action captioned Barry’s Cut Rate Stores, Inc., et. al. v. Visa, Inc., et al., MDL No. 1720, Docket No. 05-md-01720-MKB-JO, you will continue to have all rights pursuant to Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure which you have as a named representative plaintiff or absent class member in that action, except the right to initiate a new separate action before five (5) years following the court’s approval of the settlement and the exhaustion of all appeals. The July 23, 2019 deadline for requesting exclusion from the Rule 23(b)(3) Settlement has now passed.