In a class action lawsuit, Visa and Mastercard agreed to pay $264.24 million, which included a fresh $197.5 million settlement for fees and surcharges at ATMs that were allegedly in violation of federal consumer protection rules.
These class action lawsuits allege that when customers used their Visa or Mastercard debit cards to withdraw money from ATMs that imposed surcharges or “intercargo” fees for simply swiping the card, they were subjected to exorbitant fees.
According to the class action, Visa, Mastercard, and other banks increased ATM usage surcharges (also known as ATM access fees) that companies and individuals pay, in violation of federal antitrust rules.
Due to ATM fees and antitrust charges, Visa and Mastercard are facing class action lawsuits.
These claims are denied by Visa, Mastercard, and the banks participating in this class action on ATM charges; the court has not yet determined who is correct. Nonetheless, claims are still possible under the class action settlement.
A prior contract for over $66 million was in place with major US institutions, including J.P. Morgan, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America.
According to this class action, Visa, Mastercard, and its participating banks charged businesses exorbitant fees for taking credit and debit card payments, in violation of antitrust rules.
The class action specifically alleges that Visa, Mastercard, and the participating banks imposed very exorbitant exchange costs and enforced regulations that prevented retailers from allowing customers to utilize alternative payment methods.
Offered to resolve the class action by the participating firms
$264.24 million is the entire settlement amount. This include $197.5 million from Mastercard and Visa. The ATM surcharge was previously settled for $66.74 million. The settlement fund is broken out as follows.
- Visa consented to cough out $104.6 million.
- A $92.8 million payment was agreed upon by Mastercard.
Read Also: New Social Security Payouts: Are You Eligible for the $4,873 Social Security Payout?
Discover how to determine your eligibility for a payout and the potential amount you could get
If, between October 1, 2007, and July 26, 2024, you paid a surcharge to withdraw cash from an ATM at a bank in the United States, you might be eligible. If all of your surcharge ATM transactions were reimbursed or made using cards from non-US banking institutions, it is not covered.
You might not need to take any action to get payment from the new settlement if you already made a claim and were paid. The class action settlement administrators should already have your information on file.
There may be an exception to this if you have paid additional qualifying ATM fees (per the class action notification) after submitting your class action claim earlier and have not been reimbursed for those expenses.
Read Also: Who’s Getting $725 Before Christmas? Check If You’re Eligible!
How long does it take to submit a claim?
You must file a timely and legitimate claim right away if you haven’t done so before in order to get paid. A proportionate percentage of the ATM class action settlement money will be awarded to each claim, contingent on the overall number of legitimate claims.
It is hard to predict in advance the precise amount of each payment because it is contingent on the number of claims that are approved.
In order to receive the $197,500,000 class action settlement award with Mastercard and Visa, you must file a claim by January 22, 2025, if you did not file one in the aforementioned ATM surcharge class action settlements.
