Does MasterCard owe you a refund? How EVERYONE might be able to claim £300
A lawsuit means that 46million Brits could be in line for payouts - but why is this happening and how will you get your money?
A LANDMARK legal claim against Mastercard means that all Britons could potentially get a £300 refund from the card provider.
Collective action launched on in September 2016 accuses the company of selling excessive transaction fees to retailers from 1992 to 2008, which were passed onto shoppers in the form of higher prices.
Mastercard “firmly disagrees” with the basis of the claim, the company have said.
Originally the claim worked out as £430 each but when lawyers filed the case they revised this figure to just over £300 per person.
So, what’s happening? Are you due a refund and how will you be able to claim?
What’s happening with Mastercard?
Law firm Quinn Emanuel filed over 600 pages of documents with details of its claims against Mastercard.
This included a statement from former financial services ombudsman Walter Merricks.
He believes that Mastercard broke competition law for 15 years between 1992 and 2007 by charging excessive ‘interchange fees’ for every transaction on one of its cards.
These are the fees a retailer pays to your credit or debit card company when you use your card to shop.
Consumers were unaware of the level of these fees or that they were illegal.
Merricks claims that retailers would have then passed on the charges to customers.
If his case is successful Brits could see the money returned to them in the new year.
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He said: “MasterCard charged billion of pounds of unlawfully high fees for its sole benefit and to the detriment of consumers.
“It has already been found to have broken competition law, the basis of which was to protect consumers, and that cannot be disputed.
“There is no basis upon which MasterCard can contend that its card fees were not unlawful.”
Like all lawsuits there’s no guarantee it will succeed. If it does, potentially there would be paybacks for all consumers affected - an estimated 46million Britons.
Who is able to claim for cash if the case is successful?
If you were 16 before 2008 and living the UK then you may be in line for a payout of around £304.
The case is on behalf of anyone - not just Mastercard customers - who bought anything between 1992 and 1998.
The details on how you will claims you money have not been worked out yet. It very much depends on whether the case is successful or not.
What happens next?
Merricks’ case against MasterCard in November 2016 moved one step closer with the announcement of a tribunal early next year to decide whether the case can proceed to court.
If that is successful, it could pave the way for a titanic tussle in the courtroom to decide whether MasterCard owes 46 million Brits a share of the £14bn claim.
Divided equally, it would equate to £300 per person.
And it is not just MasterCard users who were hit – the claim covers any Brit who could have been hit by the price hikes in stores..
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What do you think about the action against Mastercard? Tell us below!