The two giant card companies, Visa and Mastercard, agreed to pay the incredible sum of $197.5 million combined to put a historic class action lawsuit in the past in the United States.
It comes at the end of a years-long dispute between ATM users and global credit card network giants Visa and Mastercard. It is a conflict that has been more than a decade in development and could come to an end with the substantial compensation agreement that would benefit millions of users.
A Lawsuit of More Than a Decade and a Historic Payment
The lawsuit was originally filed in 2011 by ATM users alleging unfair practices in imposing ATM access fees by the two aforementioned companies.
The plaintiffs in this class action claim that both Visa and Mastercard, through harsh regulations, contributed to increasing the fees that consumers had to pay to withdraw cash at ATMs.
According to documents filed by the plaintiffs and their attorneys last week, the settlement covers individuals and entities who were charged unreimbursed access fees to withdraw cash at bank-operated ATMs.
This major class action lawsuit has reached a significant milestone for millions of cardholders who used ATMs in the past.
The operations would have been from the first of October 2007, and the indictment claims that Visa and Mastercard implemented the so-called “Non-Discrimination Rules”, which allegedly resulted in an increase in access fees to ATMs for the affected group.
Visa, Mastercard Class-Action Lawsuit: Compensation Amounts
The companies proposed these amounts in order to settle all the plaintiffs’ claims against the two companies, ending a very expensive and torturous case for both. It is currently subject to court approval, despite the companies denying wrongdoing.
Visa and Mastercard will split the settlement amount as follows:
- Visa: Will pay 53% of the settlement, which is equivalent to $104.6 million.
- Mastercard: Will pay the remaining 47%, totaling $92.8 million.
This money will be placed in a Settlement Fund and distributed to class members who submit valid claims with relevant supporting documents.
This is not the first time this case has reached a settlement of such magnitude. In August 2022, the same plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit reached a preliminary settlement of $66.74 million with the US banks JP Morgan, Wells Fargo and Bank of America. With the new agreement with Visa and Mastercard, the total recovery now amounts to $264.24 million.
As mentioned before, Visa and Mastercard deny, each in turn, having committed any wrongdoing or improper practice, and for now they have not commented on the possible resolution of the case. Two other related class-action lawsuits are in the works: one involves consumers who used ATMs not affiliated with banks, and it targets companies that own independent ATMs.
Visa, Mastercard Had to Pay $30 Billion for Another Class-Action Settlement
Last March, the same card companies reached an estimated $30 billion deal to cap credit and debit card fees for merchants. This is an antitrust settlement, one of the largest in the history of the United States, and resolves most national litigation claims that began in 2005.
Merchants across the country have for years accused Visa and Mastercard of charging overly inflated transfer fees, interchange fees, and other charges when shoppers used credit and debit cards. They also claimed that the two companies used “anti-direction” rules, which prevented merchants from referring customers to other, cheaper means of payment.
