In March, a federal appeals court upheld a $5.6 billion antitrust class-action settlement consisting of more than 12 million retailers. The claims process is now moving forward as claims forms began mailing on December 1, 2023, and will continue being sent for most of December.

The lawsuit is about the excessive fees merchants had to pay in order to accept Visa and Mastercard cards after the companies violated antitrust laws. With the $5.54 billion settlement, every merchant in the Rule 23(b)(3) Settlement Class that did not exclude itself from the class by the deadline and filed a valid claim (“Authorized Claimant”) will be paid from the settlement fund. The part of the litigation challenging Visa and Mastercard’s rules and price setting is continuing.

The Rule 23(b)(3) Settlement Class consists of persons, businesses and other entities that have accepted any Visa-branded cards and/or Mastercard-branded cards in the United States at any time from January 1, 2004, to January 25, 2019.

The deadline for merchants to file their claim is May 31, 2024. Once you have received your claim notice, you may file either online or mail your claim to the settlement office.

For more information on the claims process and the settlement itself, visit Payment Card Settlement | Official Court-Authorized Website - Home. That is the official website for the settlement and will include all official court notices relating to the settlement.

If you did not receive a claim form and did not opt out, visit the official website and notify the claims administrator to receive and file a claim form. No organization will receive funds without filing a claim.