After a panel granted a settlement in a lawsuit against Mastercard that involved prior surcharges the card company imposed on businesses, millions of consumers might get up to £70 each.
The ruling follows an almost ten-year-old court battle that was initiated by a former financial ombudsman.
Walter Merricks said that after fees were incorrectly applied to transactions performed over a 15-year span from 1992 to 2008, consumers were subjected to higher charges.
To be eligible for reimbursement, you do not need to have ever possessed a Mastercard. Regarding the court decision, Mastercard chose not to comment.
Customers who purchased products or services from UK companies that took Mastercard credit cards and resided in England, Wales, or Northern Ireland for at least three months between June 1997 and June 2008 are entitled to compensation.
For residents of Scotland, May 1992 is the beginning point.
With £100 million left aside for customers who have until the end of this year to make claims, the whole settlement is worth £200 million. If the anticipated 5% of claimants—or 2.5 million people—come forward, they will each earn £45. Payments will be limited to £70 per claimant if fewer people apply.
According to Mr. Merricks, customers will soon be able to fill out an online form to register for a payout.
Following the European Commission’s 2007 ruling that Mastercard’s “multilateral interchange fees” assessed to companies violated competition law since 1992, he initiated his action.
Instead of customers, the fees were covered by merchants who took Mastercard payments.
However, Mr. Merricks claimed that even if shops paid the fees, consumers had lost out since the costs were passed on to them in the form of higher pricing for goods and services. 46 million British consumers, he claimed, were overcharged.
The business that provided the litigation funding is anticipated to get any unclaimed money.
On Tuesday, a settlement in the class action case was granted by the Competition Appeal Tribunal.
“Mastercard’s fees paid by retailers for processing card transactions had been unlawfully high,” Mr. Merricks stated in his statement regarding the case’s outcome.
“Virtually all UK consumers had lost out for long periods by paying higher prices than they should have done as retailers passed on those costs,” he stated.
“The settlement that has today been finally approved represents a fair and just outcome for UK consumers.”
