Earlier this year, Visa and MasterCard settled a class action lawsuit that claimed they charged US merchants excessive fees to accept payments between 2004 and 2019. This is one of the largest class action settlements in US history. Most US merchants are eligible for a settlement fund share if they received a card payment that year, but many eligible merchants have not yet filed a claim. It's an easy process and there's still time, but the deadline is approaching soon! Please read the following for details. Or start making your claim now.
1) Most US merchants are qualified
Almost all US merchants who accepted visa and/or mastercard transactions between January 1, 2004 and January 25, 2019 should be eligible to file a claim. The specific amounts received by merchants will vary based on many factors, including the fees charged, the type of cards used, and the total number of bills filed by the deadline. This amount is calculated based on the merchant's total visa/mastercard transaction fee for the period (Click here for more details).
2) There is still time to file a request
The court recently extended the deadline for filing a request (now February 4, 2025) for this historic settlement. why? Some merchants may not know the settlement, some merchants may not know how much money they can receive, others may inherently have it. You may find it more intimidating than you should.
Qualified merchants must receive eligibility notices in the mail, but many report notifications being missed, misplaced or overlooked. Online forms are easy to submit and there is no penalty for filing a claim if it turns out to be ineligible. Given the settlement and the time span covered by the amount available, I would recommend any merchant who thinks they might think they are entitled to go ahead and file a claim. All links to submit a request in this blog post will be sent directly to an official court-sponsored website, not an intermediary.
3) Here's how to file (easier than you think!)
It may be intimidating to file a claim as part of a large class action settlement, but in this case it is surprisingly easy. This is what you need to do::
If you have a notification received via email, go to https://www.paymentcardsettrement.com/en/login and have the email address, go to Enter your biller ID and control number and click Email or If you don't have a notification, navigate to “providing Tin” and fill out a short form with information about your business (including tax ID, business name, contact information, etc.).
Once this information is sent, the process begins and estimates the total transaction fee.
4) Don't forget to check and close the billing process
Please log in and check for updates after submitting your claim. A status indicator for the bill will appear and indicate whether it has been approved, rejected, has been processed, or if there have been any other issues (more details here), and if you are eligible, The total amount of interchange fees caused by. Important: This is not the amount that will reach a settlement. It will be calculated later. You can accept these numbers and complete your claims or try those numbers and provide additional data to the billing manager. We recommend working with a financial expert to address lingering questions. You will have to wait a while after completing your bill. Be aware of communication from the claims manager as we may contact you for follow-up questions or documentation.
We hope that it will take time for eligible merchants to understand the money they may receive as part of this settlement. File a claim now to see if you are entitled to funding.
