Visa, Mastercard agree to $199.5 million settlement in merchants’ class action
Visa and Mastercard will pay $199.5 million to settle a class action lawsuit alleging they unfairly shifted costs of fraudulent transactions to merchants.Summary
Visa and Mastercard have agreed to a combined $199.5 million settlement to resolve a nearly decade-old class action lawsuit. The suit accused the companies of forcing merchants to bear the costs of fraudulent transactions involving counterfeit, lost, or stolen cards. Merchants initially filed the lawsuit in 2016, claiming violations of antitrust law due to changes in chargeback rules that increased costs for businesses without reducing transaction fees. Under the settlement, Visa will pay $119.7 million and Mastercard $79.8 million, with Discover and American Express having previously agreed to pay a combined $32.2 million. All four companies maintain they did not engage in any wrongdoing. Plaintiffs’ lawyers have hailed the deal as an “excellent outcome,” representing a significant portion of potential damages. This settlement is separate from a $5 billion agreement reached in 2019 to resolve claims of improper credit and debit card fee fixing.
(Source：Reuters)