Visa-Mastercard Settlement Payouts Pass $631 Million

Where the payouts stand

According to Payments Dive, merchants have received about $631.7 million so far, paid to 689,340 merchants. That includes $212.8 million from a second partial distribution that began in September, after District Judge Brian Cogan approved it in June. The fund held $5.02 billion as of September 30, 2026, after those distributions. Payments Dive reported that about 1.47 million merchants filed claims by the February 2025 deadline. The class administrator files a claims status report with the court every quarter, and the next one is due in January.

Who the settlement covers

The settlement resolved part of a long-running antitrust case in which merchants alleged that Visa and Mastercard led them to pay excessive interchange fees. The class period, as reported by Payments Dive, runs from January 1, 2004 to January 25, 2019, and covers businesses that accepted Visa or Mastercard cards in the United States during that time. Canadian businesses are not covered by this US settlement unless they accepted cards in the US. The claim filing deadline passed in February 2025, so a business that did not file a claim should not expect a payment from this fund. Whether you are part of the class, and how much you receive, is decided under the settlement, not by any third party.

What to do if you filed a claim

1. Keep your claim number and any letters or emails from the class administrator in one safe place. 2. If your business address, bank account, ownership or contact person has changed, contact the official class administrator through PaymentCardSettlement.com to ask how to update your details, so a payment is not sent to an old account. 3. Keep your old processing statements, since they show your card volume. 4. Read anything that claims to be about the settlement carefully, and check it against the official site before you act on it.

Be careful with offers to speed up your payout

The official settlement notice says class members can file claims with the claims administrator on their own, free of charge, and can contact the administrator or class counsel for help at no cost. Court filings on the official site show that class counsel has raised misleading solicitations by some third-party claim filing companies with the court. Be wary of anyone who asks for a fee or a share of your payout to speed up a payment, asks for your bank login, or says you must act today. Distributions happen on the court's schedule. Nobody can buy you a place in line.

This is separate from the other settlement and the new lawsuit

The same case has a separate proposed settlement about card network rules, known as injunctive relief, rather than money. Judge Cogan granted it preliminary approval on June 9, 2026, and Payments Dive reported that a court hearing is scheduled for November. Major merchants including Walmart, Circle K and DoorDash have urged the judge to reject it. That settlement does not change the payouts described here. A new proposed class action over card fees was also filed in New Jersey on September 30, 2026; we explain it in New Swipe Fee Lawsuit Against Visa and Mastercard. This article is general information, not legal advice. For questions about your claim, contact the official class administrator or a lawyer.

What changes for multi-location and enterprise merchants

Larger businesses often accepted cards under several merchant accounts, tax ID numbers or legal entities, and many have changed ownership, merged or closed locations since 2004. Make sure the claim records for each entity point to the right contact and bank account, and that finance knows which entity filed which claim. If a business was sold or merged, who receives the payment can depend on the transaction documents; that is a question for your legal counsel and the administrator. Keep the claim file with your other legal and finance records so it survives staff changes. Separately, the payout is not a reason to stop reviewing what you pay today: know your effective rate by location and channel.