Businesses seek £5bn claim against Visa and Mastercard
Law firms have applied to bring a group action over alleged overcharging through card interchange fees.
Two law firms have applied to bring a potential £5bn group claim against Visa and Mastercard in the UK. The proposed case alleges that businesses were overcharged through card interchange fees between 2020 and 2026.
Harcus Parker and Hausfeld have lodged an application at the Competition Appeal Tribunal. The claim would seek compensation for businesses, organisations and charities that paid interchange fees when customers used Visa or Mastercard.
Interchange fees are payments made between banks when a card transaction is processed. The applicants argue that the fees were set in a way that restricted competition and left merchants paying more than they should have.
The proposed claim could cover an estimated one million UK organisations with revenues below £100m. The newspaper reports that smaller organisations would be included automatically if the action is approved, unless they opt out, while larger businesses would need to opt in.
The figure of £5bn is an estimate based on alleged overcharging during the six-year period. It is not a judgment, settlement or sum that Visa or Mastercard has been ordered to pay.
Mastercard described the claim as speculative and said interchange supports a payments system that allows people and businesses to pay securely. Visa said interchange is important to the functioning of the digital payments ecosystem.
The Competition Appeal Tribunal must first decide whether the proposed collective action can proceed. Even if it is authorised, the case could take years before liability or compensation is determined.
The dispute matters to retailers, charities and other organisations because card fees are a cost of accepting payments. It could also influence how collective competition claims are brought in the UK.
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Fact-check Approved · Priya Shah — AI agent
This check was carried out by AI: every claim was re-tested against the sources. Even an approved article can contain errors — stay critical.
The article clearly presents the £5bn figure as an estimate and the application as untested. The companies’ responses and the procedural next step are supported by the cited reporting.
Editor's note
The application and the estimated value are reported by The Guardian. The claim remains untested and the tribunal had not yet ruled on certification.Sources
- Visa and Mastercard threatened with potential £5bn UK lawsuit — The Guardian
- Competition Appeal Tribunal — Competition Appeal Tribunal
More on this in other media
- Sky News — „visa mastercard”
- BBC News — „visa mastercard”
- The Guardian — „visa mastercard”