NEW YORK — Many U.S. merchants receiving payments from a long-running class-action settlement over credit card interchange fees are getting larger refunds than they initially anticipated, according to claims administrators and legal representatives involved in the distribution process.
Partial distributions from the $5.54 billion settlement have begun reaching eligible businesses in 2026, with further payments approved in recent weeks, court filings show. The funds stem from allegations that Visa, Mastercard and affiliated banks imposed excessive fees on merchants accepting their cards over more than a decade.
The settlement covers merchants that accepted Visa and Mastercard transactions in the United States from Jan. 1, 2004, to Jan. 25, 2019. Claims were due by Feb. 4, 2025. An initial partial distribution was approved in late 2025, with payments issued starting in early 2026. On June 15, 2026, a federal judge approved a second partial distribution expected in September, according to the official settlement website.
"This distribution provides much-needed relief to businesses that bore the brunt of high processing costs for years," said a representative for class counsel in a statement provided to Reuters. Exact individual amounts vary based on transaction volume during the settlement period, but some smaller merchants have reported receiving sums that exceeded their preliminary estimates.
The settlement resolved antitrust claims that the card networks and banks conspired to set artificially high interchange fees, which merchants pay when customers use credit cards. Earlier phases included temporary fee reductions and changes allowing surcharges in some cases. The damages portion resulted in the multibillion-dollar fund after years of litigation and appeals.
Merchants must have filed valid claims to participate. The claims administrator, Epiq, has processed hundreds of thousands of submissions, with audits ongoing to verify eligibility. Not all claims qualify for immediate payment; some remain held pending further review or appeals.
Industry groups have noted the funds as a partial offset to ongoing processing costs, which reached record levels in recent years. However, the National Retail Federation and others previously criticized proposed terms as insufficient compared to the total fees paid by merchants.
Visa and Mastercard have maintained they did not admit wrongdoing in the settlement. A spokesperson for Visa said in a prior statement that the agreement provides certainty for the industry while allowing continued innovation in payment services.
As of early June 2026, more than $414 million had been distributed in an earlier round, with the next tranche projected at a minimum of $182 million for approximately 84,000 claimants, according to court documents.
Details on average per-claim amounts remain limited as distributions continue. Merchants with questions are directed to the official settlement site or the administrator. Further rounds of payments may occur, but the timeline for full distribution is not yet finalized.
The case is In re Payment Card Interchange Fee and Merchant Discount Antitrust Litigation, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
