If You Are A Merchant That Accepted Visa and/or MasterCard Branded Credit and/or Debit Cards You May Be Entitled To Benefits From The Visa MasterCard Merchant Payment Card Interchange Fee Class Action Settlement.
A class action settlement has been reached in a class action lawsuit against Visa U.S.A. Inc., Visa International Service Association, and Visa Inc. (the “Visa Defendants”), MasterCard International Incorporated and MasterCard Incorporated (the “Mastercard Defendants”) and various banks (all collectively “Defendants”) in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York (styled In re Payment Card Interchange Fee and Merchant Discount Antitrust Litigation, MDL No. 1720 (JG)(JO)), alleging, among other things, that Visa, MasterCard, and certain member banks, violated the antitrust law because they allegedly conspired to set interchange fees attributable to merchants that accepted Visa or MasterCard credit or debit cards between January 1, 2004 and November 28, 2012 and purportedly caused merchants to pay excessive fees for accepting Visa and MasterCard cards, according to the Visa MasterCard Merchant Payment Card Interchange Fee Class Action Settlement Notice.
Who Is Included As A Settlement Class Member In The Visa MasterCard Merchant Payment Card Interchange Fee Class Action Settlement:
The Visa MasterCard Merchant Payment Card Interchange Fee Settlement reportedly creates two settlement classes: a Cash Settlement Class (the Rule 23(b)(3) Settlement Class) and a Rule Changes Settlement Class (the Rule 23(b)(2) Settlement Class).
The Cash Settlement Class reportedly includes all persons, businesses, or other entities that accepted Visa-Branded Cards and/or MasterCard-Branded Cards in the United States at any time from January 1, 2004 to November 28, 2012, but does not include the named Defendants, their directors, officers, or members of their families, financial institutions that have issued Visa- or MasterCard-Branded Cards or acquired Visa- or MasterCard-Branded Card transactions at any time from January 1, 2004 to the Settlement Preliminary Approval Date, or the United States government.
The Rule Changes Settlement Class reportedly includes all persons, businesses or other entities that as of November 28, 2012, or in the future accept any Visa-Branded Cards and/or MasterCard-Branded Cards in the United States, but does not include the named Defendants, their directors, officers, or members of their families, financial institutions that have issued Visa- or MasterCard-Branded Cards or acquired Visa- or MasterCard-Branded Card transactions at any time since January 1, 2004, or do so in the future, or the United States government.
What Settlement Benefits Does The Visa MasterCard Merchant Payment Card Interchange Fee Class Action Lawsuit Settlement Provide:
The Visa MasterCard Merchant Payment Card Interchange Fee class action settlement provides for the creation of two settlement funds, the first a cash fund in the amount of $6.05 billion that will pay valid claims of class members who accepted Visa or MasterCard branded credit or debit cards in the U.S. between January 1, 2004 and November 28, 2012 and the second consisting of up to an estimated $1.2 billion fund equivalent to a portion of the interchange fees attributable to merchants that do not exclude themselves from the Cash Settlement Class and that accepted Visa and MasterCard credit cards during an eight-month period to begin by July 29, 2013.
If the Court approves the settlement at or following the September 12, 2013 Fairness Hearing, the Court will then approve a Claim Form and set a claim deadline. Claim Forms will reportedly be automatically mailed or emailed to class members who received a Settlement Notice in the mail and will also be posted on the settlement website. Class members can preregister for the settlement at https://www.paymentcardsettlement.com/en/Preregistration which information will be reportedly be used to assist the Settlement Class Administrator in the preparation of Claim Forms.
Under the settlement, Visa and MasterCard will also make changes to their rules and practices, including allowing merchants to charges extra fees to customers if they pay with Visa or MasterCard credit cards or offer discounts to customers who pay with payment forms less expensive than Visa or MasterCard, to form buying groups to negotiate with Visa and MasterCard and to accept Visa and MasterCards at fewer than all of the merchant’s trade names or banners.
Who Are The Persons, Companies and Entities Involved In The Visa MasterCard Merchant Payment Card Interchange Fee Class Action Settlement :
The Plaintiffs & Class Representatives: The Plaintiffs who filed the Visa MasterCard Merchant Payment Card Interchange Fee class action complaint and who were appointed by the court as Class Representatives of the Settlement Class are Photos Etc. Corporation; Traditions, Ltd.; Capital Audio Electronics, Inc.; CHS Inc.; Crystal Rock LLC; Discount Optics, Inc.; Leon’s Transmission Service, Inc.; Parkway Corp.; and Payless ShoeSource, Inc.
The Defendants: The Defendants are Visa U.S.A. Inc., Visa International Service Association, and Visa Inc.; MasterCard International Incorporated and MasterCard Incorporated and Bank of America, N.A.; BA Merchant Services LLC (formerly known as National Processing, Inc.); Bank of America Corporation; MBNA America Bank, N.A.; Barclays Bank plc; Barclays Bank Delaware; Barclays Financial Corp.; Capital One Bank (USA), N.A.; Capital One F.S.B.; Capital One Financial Corporation; Chase Bank USA, N.A.; Chase Manhattan Bank USA, N.A.; Chase Paymentech Solutions, LLC; JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A.; JPMorgan Chase & Co.; Bank One Corporation; Bank One Delaware, N.A.; Citibank (South Dakota), N.A.; Citibank N.A.; Citigroup Inc.; Citicorp; Fifth Third Bancorp; First National Bank of Omaha; HSBC Finance Corporation; HSBC Bank USA, N.A.; HSBC North America Holdings Inc.; HSBC Holdings plc; HSBC Bank plc; National City Corporation; National City Bank of Kentucky; SunTrust Banks, Inc.; SunTrust Bank; Texas Independent Bancshares, Inc.; Wachovia Bank, N.A.; Wachovia Corporation; Washington Mutual, Inc.; Washington Mutual Bank; Providian National Bank (also known as Washington Mutual Card Services, Inc.); Providian Financial Corporation; Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. and Wells Fargo & Company.
Class Counsel: The Court appointed the following lawyers, attorneys and law firms to represent the Visa MasterCard Merchant Payment Card Interchange Fee classes: K. Craig Wildfang of Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi L.L.P., H. Laddie Montague, Jr. of Berger & Montague, P.C. and Bonny E. Sweeney and Alexandra S. Bernay of Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP.
Designated Defendants’ Counsel: Designated Counsel for Defendants is Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP.
The Settlement Administrator: The Visa MasterCard Merchant Payment Card Interchange Fee Settlement or Claims Administrator is Epiq Systems, Inc.
The Court: The Courthouse is the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
The Judge: The Judge presiding over the Visa MasterCard Merchant Payment Card Interchange Fee case is The Honorable John Gleeson.
How To Obtain Additional Information About The Visa MasterCard Merchant Payment Card Interchange Fee Settlement:
For more information about the Visa MasterCard Merchant Payment Card Interchange Fee class action settlement, visit www.PaymentCardSettlement.com, write to: Payment Card Interchange Fee Settlement, P.O. Box 2530 Portland, OR 97208-2530, email: info@PaymentCardSettlement.com or call 1-800-625-6440 or fax 1-855-539-9556
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