Credit & debit card claim
“… it is worth reflecting on the nature of an industry dominated by a global duopoly that can get away with quintupling a charge from one day to the next.”
The Financial Times, 1 February 2021
Credit & debit card claim
“The decisive question is whether in the absence of the MIF the prices acquirers charge to merchants at large would be lower. This is the case, because the price each individual bank could charge to merchants would be fully determined by competition rather than to a large extent by a collective decision among (or on behalf of) the banks”
European Commission, Decision of 19 December 2007 (COMP/34.579, COMP/36.518, COMP/38.580)
Credit & debit card claim
“Over the course of lengthy investigations in Europe going back many years and, more recently, litigation in the UK, multilateral interchange fees levied by Mastercard and Visa have been found to be anti-competitive, and therefore unlawful. Businesses have been affected by these fees to the tune of billions of pounds and deserve to be properly compensated.”
Jeremy Robinson, Competition Law and Regulation Partner at Harcus Parker
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Find out what the case is about and how to join
Mastercard and Visa continue to require businesses to pay unlawful credit and debit card payments on consumer credit and debit cards. If your business accepts card payments, read on to find out what the credit and debit card claim is about, whether your business can claim, and if so, how you can join.
THE CLAIMS AGAINST MASTERCARD AND VISA FOR ANTICOMPETITIVE MULTILATERAL INTERCHANGE FEES
This case – and its parallel case on commercial and interregional cards – alleges that Mastercard and Visa have breached competition law. The new claim, which concerns businesses who accept consumer credit and debit cards, will also be brought in the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT), the UK’s specialist judicial body for competition law. The claims will be brought on behalf of all businesses that accept card payments.
Whenever a customer pays a merchant by card, the merchant’s bank will pay a “Multilateral Interchange Fee” or “MIF” to the card-holder’s bank. The MIF makes up the largest part of the Merchant Service Charge, which the merchant’s bank will charge the merchant in return for the right to accept card payment. MIFs increase costs for business owners.
The MIF is a percentage of the value of a transaction. The MIF, however, is not set unilaterally by banks in accordance with market competition. It is set by the card schemes, Mastercard and Visa, and imposed on banks as a condition of their participation in the scheme. The banks then pass on the charges to their customers. Since it is the merchant’s bank that pays the MIF, it is your bank that passes this charge to you or your business.
A fully-funded and insured claim
In past EU and UK litigation, EU and UK MIFs were found to be anti-competitive, and therefore unlawful. The European Commission and the EU Court of Justice established the principle that EEA and inter-regional MIF were unlawful. The EU’s Interchange Fees Regulation established a maximum level for EEA MIF on consumer cards; an equivalent law took effect in the UK for UK domestic MIF on consumer cards. However, this maximum level is still excessive and the MIFs should be zero. We are claiming compensation for businesses for the significant fees levied above the level of zero, in breach of competition law.
Although the UK has left the EU, it is still possible to bring infringements of EU competition law in the English courts, for losses incurred up to and including the date of the UK’s departure from the EU, 31 December 2020.
Our objectives in bringing this class action against Mastercard and Visa are: first, to seek damages plus interest for past losses suffered by businesses, and secondly, to end unlawful charges for the future.
This class action against Mastercard and Visa is fully-funded and insured.