Eligible Class Members

All persons, businesses, and other entities that accepted any Visa-or Mastercard-branded Cards in the United States at any time from January 1, 2004 to January 25, 2019. Excluded from this Class are (a) the Dismissed Plaintiffs, (b) the United States government, (c) the named Defendants or their directors, officers, or members of their families, and (d) 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 January 25, 2019.

Case History

In 2005, merchants filed several class action lawsuits alleging that because Visa, Mastercard and certain U.S. financial institutions fixed fees for processing credit and debit card payments and prohibited merchants from steering their customers toward the use of lower-cost payment instruments, merchants paid higher interchange fees. A settlement was reached in October 2012; on June 30, 2016, however, the Second Circuit reversed class certification, vacated the District Court’s final approval of that settlement, and remanded the case back to the District Court for further proceedings. In or about November 2016, the District Court, to adhere to the Second Circuit’s direction, appointed separate representatives and counsel each for the class of merchants seeking financial relief, referred to as the “Rule 23(b)(3) Class,” and the class of merchants seeking injunctive relief (e.g., rule changes), referred to as the “Rule 23(b)(2) Class.” In or about September 2018, the Rule 23(b)(3) Class reached with all of the defendants a new settlement (the “Superseding Settlement”) that, at
that time, provided a settlement fund of as much as $6.24 billion but not less than approximately $5.54 billion, depending on the amount of interest earned on the funds held in escrow and on any reduction in the settlement amount required
as a result of exclusions. The Superseding Settlement received preliminary District Court approval on January 24, 2019. By Order entered December 13, 2019, as further explained in its December 16, 2019 Memorandum & Order, the Court granted
final approval to the Superseding Settlement. As set forth on the official Court-approved website, the settlement fund for the Superseding Settlement is estimated to be $5.54 billion after reductions for the full $700 million permitted due to
exclusions, subject to further reduction for Court-approved attorneys’ fees in the amount of $523.3 million and expenses in the amount of $39.2 million, Court-approved incentive awards to class representatives in the amount of $936,000, and the costs of noticing class members and administering the Superseding Settlement. The District Court’s final approval of the Superseding Settlement was appealed. The Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, while directing the District Court to reevaluate its approval of service awards to class representatives, affirmed all aspects of the District Court’s final approval of the Superseding Settlement. At this time, several procedural matters, such as any requests that the Second Circuit
rehear the appeal and a petition for review by the U.S. Supreme Court, may need to be resolved before the Superseding Settlement will become final so that the claims process may begin. The Net Settlement Fund will be distributed to approved claimants at the completion of the claims process.