MasterCard Facing £14billion Claim Over Card Charges passed on to Shoppers

       

         Around 40 million British credit card users could be handed £450 each as legal action has been taken against MasterCard over £14billion of 'unfair charges' to customers. A collective action was launched today that accuses the company of setting punitive transaction fees for retailers from 1992 to 2008, which were passed on to shoppers in the shape of higher prices.

       All UK consumers who used MasterCard credit cards, or even cash, cheque, or any other payment method, for their purchases during that period and are currently living in the UK will automatically become part of the claim. They will, therefore, potentially benefit from any payout - unless they explicitly opt out.
        Consumers no longer living in the UK, but who were here between 1992 and 2008 will have the opportunity to opt in to the collective claim. The claim, led by former financial services ombudsman Walter Merricks, and aided by US law firm Quinn Emanuel, was filed today at the Competition Appeal Tribunal in London under the Consumer Rights Act 2015.

        MasterCard said: 'Now that the claim has been filed, we will take time to review it in detail, however we continue to firmly disagree with the basis of this claim and we intend to oppose it vigorously.
'We deliver real value through the benefits of security, convenience and consumer protection, and we are committed to investing in our payment services in order to continue to meet the rapidly evolving needs of all our customers.'
      The claimants allege MasterCard set unlawfully high interchange fees - charged to stores when shoppers swipe their debit or credit cards for payments - for 16 years, which were passed on to consumers in the form of inflated prices for goods and services. The European Court of Justice declared that such fees were a violation of EU anti-trust rules in 2014.
        Mr Merricks said: 'MasterCard charged billions 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. The filing of this claim is the first step towards consumers obtaining compensation for what MasterCard did. I am confident that the CAT will authorise the claim to go forward, and I look forward to the opportunity to present our case.
Culled from Dailymail