Visa and Mastercard Antitrust Claims

Uncover Your Rights:

Learn more about how to qualify if you think that you have a claim against Visa and Mastercard. At Barakat + Bossa, we are dedicated to empowering individuals and businesses to assert their rights and navigate the complexities of these types of claims.

Visa and Mastercard Antitrust Claims in a Nutshell

If you’ve been accepting Visa or Mastercard in your business anytime between 2004 and early 2019 (essentially any business in the last 15 years), then you most likely received a notice about the class action antitrust lawsuit between merchants and cardmember brands.

The court found that merchants (you!) overpaid interchange fees because Visa and Mastercard violated antitrust laws and ordered a preliminary settlement of $5.54-$6.24 billion for merchants who accepted Visa and Mastercard from January 1st, 2004 to January 25th, 2019.

In other words, you have the opportunity to get paid back what you overpaid in interchange fees over the last 15 years if you submit your claim before May 31, 2024.

See if you Qualify

Any business/merchant who accepted Visa and Mastercard branded cards in the United States any time from January 1, 2004, to January 25, 2019.

Experience Matters

Our firm has been protecting business and their owners in litigation and arbitration since 2004. We have an international team hailing from four continents with a diversity of languages. We focus on business matters such as partnership disputes, noncompetes, corporate litigation, real estate, breach of contract and financial fraud. In 2020, the firm was renamed Barakat + Bossa after a merger between Brian Barakat & Giacomo Bossa. Brian Barakat is a former white-collar prosecutor, providing the firm a unique perspective on resolving business disputes swiftly, efficiently and without disruption to your business. Giacomo Bossa is a modern business attorney capable of supporting clients equally in the courtroom and the conference room. Both partners bring a creative, wide-ranging approach to solving legal issues and providing effective counsel for clients. They met as opposing counsel and today are partners – we can think of no greater testament to their skills.

Learn More

Some companies may offer Settlement Class to help you file their Claim Form in exchange for a portion of their recovery from the Settlement. While Settlement Class may choose to use such companies, they can file them with the Claims Administrator on their own, free of charge. Additionally, they are entitled to contact the Claims Administrator or Rule 23(b)(3) Class Counsel for assistance with understanding and filing their Claim Forms at no cost. Prior orders of the Court regarding third-party claims filing companies are available for review on the case website.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is this lawsuit about?

The Lawsuit is principally about setting and charging excessive interchange fees attributable to merchants that accepted Visa or Mastercard credit or debit cards between January 1, 2004 and January 25, 2019, and Visa’s and Mastercard’s imposing and enforcing rules that limited merchants from steering their customers to other payment methods. Interchange fees are figured as a percentage of the total charge in a credit or debit card transaction (1% to 2% of the purchase price), covering the cost of handling, processing, and authorizing the transactions, as well as potential fraud and bad debt expenses. These percentages are set by the card issuing company and paid by the merchant’s bank to the customer’s bank, fixing the baseline for the fees charged by merchant services providers and accounting for the bulk of the total transaction fees paid by the merchant for accepting these cards.

Can attorneys provide legal services to Settlement Class to collect from the settlement fund?

Attorneys may provide legal services to Settlement Class to file Claim Forms and be paid from the settlement fund, in exchange for a portion of their recovery from the Settlement. However, Settlement Class can file Claim Forms on their own, free of charge and without requiring legal assistance. Additionally, they are entitled to contact the Claims Administrator or Rule 23(b)(3) Class Counsel for assistance with understanding and filing their Claim Forms at no cost. Settlement Class hiring their own lawyers at their own cost to appear in this case, must tell the Court and send a copy of their notice to Rule 23(b)(3) Class Counsel.

What disclosures do attorneys need to make to Settlement Class to offer legal services?

The new proposed disclaimer language to be required by December 1, 2023 is the following:

Claim forms are being delivered and are available online beginning December 1, 2023.
Class members need not sign up for a third-party service in order to participate in any monetary relief.
No-cost assistance is available from the Class Administrator and Class Counsel during the claims-filing period.
Information directing class members to the Court-approved website paymentcardsettlement.com for additional information.