Mastercard Refund Lawsuit Ruling: $5.54B Fund and Merricks Case

The Mastercard refund lawsuit that dominates search results is actually two cases on two continents. In the United States, it is the merchant antitrust class action known as In re Payment Card Interchange Fee and Merchant Discount Antitrust Litigation, which produced a $5.54 billion settlement fund for businesses that accepted Visa or Mastercard between January 1, 2004, and January 25, 2019; the deadline to file a claim was February 4, 2025, and payments to approved claimants are already going out.¹ In the United Kingdom, a separate consumer case brought by Walter Merricks on behalf of about 44 million shoppers settled for £200 million, with £100 million set aside for consumer payouts once a funder’s court challenge cleared in June 2026.² Consumers in the U.S. are not part of the $5.54 billion fund; that money is for merchants only.

The U.S. Merchant Settlement: What It Covers

Merchants argued that Visa, Mastercard, and several major banks violated the Sherman Act by fixing interchange fees and imposing rules that blocked stores from steering customers toward cheaper payment methods. “Honor-all-cards” policies forced acceptance of every card a network issued, and “no-surcharge” and “no-discount” rules stopped merchants from passing the cost along or offering discounts for cash or debit.

After a first settlement was thrown out by the Second Circuit in 2016 for inadequate class representation, new counsel negotiated the current deal. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York gave final approval in December 2019, and the Second Circuit affirmed that approval in March 2023.³

Who Qualified

The class covers every person, business, or entity that accepted Visa or Mastercard credit or debit cards in the United States during the 15-year window. Excluded from recovery are the U.S. government, the defendants and their officers, card-issuing and acquiring financial institutions, and merchants who had already settled and dismissed their own suits.¹

The Claim Deadline Has Passed

If you did not file by February 4, 2025, you cannot submit a new claim. Merchants who did file can track their claim’s authorization, review, and payment status through the Merchant Portal run by claims administrator Epiq.⁴

Where the $5.54 Billion Fund Stands

Judge Brian Cogan approved an initial, partial distribution in October 2025, and payments began arriving in February 2026. By mid-2026, roughly $414 million had been paid to about 598,000 merchants, with about $4.1 million remaining from that first batch.⁵

Class counsel has asked the court to authorize a second distribution of at least $182 million to approximately 84,000 claimants who were held back in the first round because of data mismatches or tax identification number problems that have since been resolved.⁵ About $1.5 billion is sitting idle in the fund awaiting distribution decisions, and roughly $3.35 billion is reserved pending the outcome of appeals over which merchant groups belong in the class. That reserved money will not be released until every such appeal is fully resolved.

More than 500,000 claims are still working through a multi-step dispute process. On June 8, 2026, Judge Cogan reappointed retired magistrate judge James Orenstein as special master for a second two-year term to help resolve those disputes, giving him authority over claim adjudications, exclusion disputes, and any other matter the court refers to him.⁶

One appeal was resolved in May 2026, when the Second Circuit ruled that branded gasoline retailers were members of the settlement class and that their later state-law claims were released by the deal. The court held that gas station operators “accepted” payment cards within the plain meaning of the agreement, even though their fuel suppliers controlled the merchant processing relationship.⁷ Plaintiffs may still seek further review.

The UK Consumer Case: Merricks v. Mastercard

The UK case is the one route by which ordinary shoppers, rather than businesses, may see a payment. Walter Merricks CBE, a former financial ombudsman, brought a collective action for roughly 44 million UK consumers, alleging that Mastercard’s multilateral interchange fees from 1992 to 2008 were passed through to shoppers as higher retail prices.²

The Competition Appeal Tribunal approved a £200 million settlement in February 2025, describing it as “just and reasonable.” Half the total, £100 million, is earmarked for consumer claims. If about 2.5 million people apply (roughly 5% of eligible claimants), each would receive around £45; if fewer apply, individual payments are capped at £70. Anything unclaimed goes to the Access to Justice Foundation.²

Why UK Payouts Were Delayed

Distribution was held up by a judicial review challenge from Innsworth Capital, the litigation funder that bankrolled the case. Innsworth had spent up to £46 million and stood to recover its costs plus a 50% return under the tribunal’s plan, totaling about £68 million. The funder argued the tribunal’s cap on its profit was unfair.⁸

On June 10, 2026, the Divisional Court dismissed the challenge. Lord Justice Males and Mr. Justice Morris held that the tribunal acted within its broad discretionary powers as a specialist body and that capping the funder’s profit was justified given the “extraordinarily low” settlement outcome for class members, roughly 1.4% of the original claim value.⁹ Innsworth was ordered to pay Merricks’s legal costs. Separate arbitration proceedings brought by Innsworth remain pending, but Merricks has said he expects them to conclude favorably, allowing consumer payments to begin.

The $38 Billion Rules Settlement: Why It Matters for Merchants

A separate track in the same U.S. litigation targets Visa and Mastercard’s business rules rather than past damages. Judge Margo Brodie rejected an earlier version of this deal in June 2024, ruling it did not treat merchants equitably on surcharging rights and offered inadequate fee reductions.¹⁰

After a year of mediation, the parties announced a revised deal on November 10, 2025, that plaintiffs’ economists valued at approximately $38 billion through 2031.¹¹ Its principal terms:

A 0.1 percentage point (10 basis points) cut on most domestic credit card interchange for five years.¹²
A cap of 1.25% on standard consumer credit card interchange for eight years.¹²
An end to strict “honor all cards,” so merchants may decline specific card tiers (accepting standard consumer cards while refusing premium rewards or commercial cards).¹²
Surcharging up to 3% on Visa and Mastercard credit transactions, at either the brand or product level, with the option to surcharge the two networks differently.¹¹
A $21 million merchant education program on the new rules.¹⁰

Judge Brian Cogan granted preliminary approval on June 9, 2026, calling the deal “fair, reasonable, and adequate.”¹² Major retailers oppose it. Walmart, the National Retail Federation, the Retail Industry Leaders Association, the National Association of Convenience Stores, and Circle K have all objected.¹³ RILA has called the relief “illusory” and the class representation inadequate, noting that the named plaintiffs are small businesses such as a hair salon, a pharmacy, and a dentist. The group also objected that the deal is a mandatory class settlement with no right to opt out, which it called “unconscionable.”¹⁴ Walmart’s counsel has argued the absence of an opt-out is “probably unconstitutional.”

The National Retail Federation noted that the 0.1 percentage point reduction is a small fraction of the average 2.35% swipe fee reached in 2024, amounting to roughly one year’s worth of fee increases.¹⁵ Critics also point out that the deal limits only the interchange portion (which goes to card-issuing banks) and places no constraints on the fees Visa and Mastercard themselves charge. Final approval is expected in late 2026 or early 2027.¹⁰

Related Cases That Are Not the Same Thing

Two other proceedings sometimes surface under the “Mastercard refund lawsuit” label but are separate from the class fund.

Seven opt-out merchants chose not to participate in the class settlement and are pursuing their own claims, seeking aggregate single damages exceeding $1 billion. Circle K Stores is set for an April 2026 trial, with the remaining six merchants scheduled for September 2026.¹⁶ Any recovery in those cases goes to those merchants, not to the class.

A separate ATM fee case alleged that Visa and Mastercard’s ATM rules kept access fees for cash withdrawals at bank ATMs artificially high. Visa agreed to pay $104.6 million and Mastercard $92.8 million, for a combined $197 million, with bank defendants having previously settled related claims for $66 million. The proposed class covers an estimated 175 million consumers who withdrew cash from bank ATMs since 2007, and two related actions involving non-bank ATM users and independent operators remain pending.¹⁷

1
Payment Card Settlement. Frequently Asked Questions
2
BBC. Mastercard Settlement Approved by Tribunal
3
Justia Law. In Re Payment Card Interchange Fee and Merchant Discount Antitrust Litigation, No. 20-339
4
Payment Card Settlement. Payment Card Settlement Home
5
Payments Dive. Visa-Mastercard Swipe Fee Fund Has Paid $414M
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Payment Card Settlement. Order Appointing Special Master
7
Buchalter. Old Jericho Enterprise v Visa: Second Circuit Holds Branded Gasoline Retailers Bound by Payment Card Settlement Release
8
Law Gazette. Funder Fails in JR Challenge to Mastercard Claim Distribution
9
ICLR. Innsworth Capital v Competition Appeal Tribunal
10
Payments Dive. Visa, Mastercard Reach Legal Pact With Merchants
11
American Bar Association. In Re Payment Card Interchange Fee and Merchant Discount Antitrust Litigation
12
Reuters. US Judge OKs Visa-Mastercard $38 Billion Swipe Fee Settlement
13
Payments Dive. Visa, Mastercard Defend Card Fee Settlement
14
Retail Industry Leaders Association. Retailers Object to Credit Card Settlement
15
National Retail Federation. Retailers Call Reported Swipe Fee Settlement All Window Dressing and No Substance
16
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Mastercard SEC Filing
17
ATM Marketplace. Visa, Mastercard Will Pay $197 Million in ATM Fee Lawsuit