How to Claim Your Share of the $6 Billion Visa and MasterCard Settlement | |
Gareth Sales Monday, January 20, 2014 |
You may or may not have heard the news that in December, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York approved a settlement in a class-action lawsuit between merchants and Visa / MasterCard for a lawsuit started in 2005 by retailers whom objected to the processing rates set by Visa, MasterCard, and others.
Can You Claim?
The $6 billion settlement is broken down into two funds:
- Fund 1 - Any merchant that accepted Visa / MasterCard credit or debit cards in the U.S. between January 1, 2004 and November 28, 2012 may be eligible to receive a payment.
- Fund 2 is - based on a portion of interchange fees incurred by certain merchants that accepted Visa or MasterCard for an eight-month period starting from July 29, 2013.
Official Settlement Website
An official settlement website has been set up where you can learn more about the settlement and how to file a claim. I strongly recommended you read as much information as possible on this website before filing your claim.
Third Party Claims
Many of you may have been notified by your merchant account providers that they will file your claim for you – how nice of them right? Or perhaps not, most merchant account providers will take a 15% – 25% bite out of your settlement for filing on your behalf. You may want to determine how difficult the claim process will be before allowing a third party claim on your behalf for a hefty fee.
Happy Selling!
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