Millions to get compensation from Mastercard after landmark legal battle

A major debit card provider is paying out £200million in compensation after a major new legal ruling. Mastercard will pay compensation to millions of customers after a new ruling from the Competition Appeal Tribunal.

The long running case has been running for the last 10 years, with Walter Merricks, a former financial ombudsman, having first launched the legal claim back in 2016.

Merricks alleged that 46 million shoppers in the UK were "ripped off" after fees were wrongly levied on transactions made between 1992 and 2008. The fees were paid by the retailers accepting Mastercard, which were then passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices.

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According to Merricks, consumers are set to receive payments worth up to £70 each out of the overall £200million settlement. Alongside this, UK consumers will shortly be able to register to receive a payment by completing a simple online form regardless of whether they ever held a Mastercard card. Merricks says it is expected that payments will be made to consumers who register before the end of the year.

Commenting on the outcome of the case, Walter Merricks said: "I started this case because I believed that Mastercard’s fees paid by retailers for processing card transactions had been unlawfully high and virtually all UK consumers had lost out for long by periods paying higher prices than they should have done as retailers passed on those costs.

"As the evidence came to be known through the litigation process, this was the position only in a relatively small proportion of transactions and the settlement reflects that. The settlement that has today been finally approved represents a fair and just outcome for UK consumers. On any view, recovering £200million by way of a settlement for UK consumers is a huge sum, and that will translate into a meaningful impact in the pockets of UK consumers."

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