Visa and Mastercard to pay $167.5 million to settle class-action over ATM fees
Visa and Mastercard have agreed to pay a combined total of $167.5 million to settle a class-action lawsuit concerning ATM fees. The settlement was filed in federal district court in Washington, D.C., and is currently awaiting a judge's approval.
Visa is set to contribute approximately $88.8 million, while Mastercard will pay around $78.7 million into a settlement fund. This fund will be distributed to eligible customers who made qualifying ATM transactions since October 2007.
The plaintiffs allege that Visa and Mastercard conspired to keep ATM access fees artificially high by preventing competition from independent ATM operators and lowering prices. The original lawsuit was filed in 2011 and is part of three related cases pending in the same federal court in Washington, D.C. Both companies deny any wrongdoing.
Previously, Visa and Mastercard paid $197.5 million last year to resolve claims from a different group of ATM users, and banks separately paid $66 million in related settlements in 2021. Meanwhile, a third lawsuit by independent ATM owners and operators remains pending in the same court.
Plaintiffs' lawyers plan to seek up to 30% of the settlement fund, or about $50 million, in legal fees and will request court approval for this amount.
Visa is also facing other antitrust litigation, including a Department of Justice case alleging monopolization of the US debit card market, which Visa also denies.
