Two major credit card companies, Visa and Mastercard, have agreed to settle a long-standing lawsuit over artificially high ATM access fees. The settlement would require the firms to add $88.8M and $78.7M to a fund for eligible customers who made qualifying transactions since 2007. The case dates back to 2011, when consumers alleged that Visa and Mastercard’s policies prevented independent ATM providers from competing by charging cheaper fees. This is just one of three related lawsuits pending in federal court. As part of the settlement, Visa and Mastercard have already reached a separate deal with US merchants to reduce credit-card fees and loosen restrictions on card acceptance. The news has led to gains for both companies’ shares, with Visa’s rising 0.7% and Mastercard’s climbing 0.6%.
Source: https://seekingalpha.com/news/4533747-visa-mastercard-agree-to-pay-1675m-fine-to-settle-atm-fee-suit