Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. have reached a settlement amounting to $197 million to resolve a class-action lawsuit filed by millions of consumers, alleging that the financial payment giants artificially inflated cash access fees.
The proposed settlement, disclosed by plaintiffs’ attorneys in a filing to a federal court in Washington, D.C., concerns consumers who have made cash withdrawals from bank-operated ATMs since 2007. Two additional related class actions, one representing consumers using non-bank ATMs and another representing businesses owning independent ATMs, are currently pending in the same court.
Subject to court approval, the settlement, which sees Visa paying $104.6 million and Mastercard paying $92.8 million, aims to address allegations of inflated access fees resulting from the ATM network rules established by Visa and Mastercard. The financial companies, along with bank defendants who previously settled claims for $66 million, have denied any wrongdoing.
Visa and Mastercard have not provided immediate comments regarding the settlement.
Plaintiffs’ attorneys have asserted that the settlement will provide “immediate and assured relief” to affected consumers. The plaintiffs across the three cases have accused Visa and Mastercard of enforcing ATM network rules that led to inflated access fees, collectively seeking damages exceeding $9 billion.
The resolution of this case follows the U.S. Supreme Court’s rejection of an appeal from Visa and Mastercard in April, challenging a lower court judge’s decision to allow the plaintiffs to sue as class actions. Visa and Mastercard contended that the judge had not conducted a rigorous analysis before certifying the class actions.
The proposed settlement class encompasses an estimated 175 million members, and consumers will have the opportunity to voice any objections to the settlement terms, including the allocated fund amount and awarded legal fees.
Visa and Mastercard remain defendants in a separate ongoing legal battle in Brooklyn federal court, facing accusations of overcharging merchants and others in transactions involving debit and credit cards.
